TRUMP POSTPONED IRAN TO USE IT LATER, AROUND THE MIDTERMS - 4.9.26

Summary

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Episode: TRUMP POSTPONED IRAN TO USE IT LATER, AROUND THE MIDTERMS
Date: April 9, 2026
Host: Keith Olbermann

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Episode Overview

Keith Olbermann delivers a scathing, rapid-fire analysis of recent political events, centering on former President Trump’s handling of the Iran conflict—and the theory that Trump orchestrated (and then postponed) a manufactured crisis in order to leverage it during the upcoming midterm elections. Using his signature blend of acerbic humor, media criticism, and personal anecdotes, Olbermann critiques Trump’s leadership, the state of the American press, and the ongoing Epstein files controversy. Longtime listeners will find segments like "Worst Persons in the World," anecdotes from his broadcasting career, and Olbermann’s relentless call for political accountability.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump, Iran, and Election Manipulation (04:12 – 13:44)

• Allegation of Political Calculus:
  Olbermann asserts that Trump initially escalated the Iran crisis not for security but to distract from the Epstein files scandal and to create an excuse for suppressing the midterm elections.
• Theory of Postponement:
  Trump "postponed" the Iran crisis to keep an emergency on the back burner for use as an electoral tool:

  “He didn’t need retaliation from Iran and maybe terrorism, real or staged or just made up on April 9, he needs it on October 9. So this was all not only postponed, but it was postponed already, pre-sabotaged. So he can keep it on a back burner till then or bring it back later when he needs to lie and say Iran is a threat right here at home.” (06:21, Olbermann)

• Timothy Snyder’s Warning:
  Olbermann quotes Yale historian Timothy Snyder, aligning his analysis with the threat of authoritarian power grabs:

  “We are seven months away from the most consequential midterm election in the history of the United States. Meanwhile, we are fighting war. These are the structural conditions for a coup attempt in which a president tries to nullify elections and take permanent power as a dictator.” (07:18, quoting Snyder)

• Critique of Trump’s Competence and Motive:
  Trump is described as both manipulative and incompetent, unable to “even subvert the government properly while he is in charge of that government.” (09:20)
• Consequences in the Persian Gulf:
  Olbermann laments Trump’s surrender of control over the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, highlighting America’s weakened influence.

2. Epstein Files and Political Football (16:25 – 22:13)

• Epstein Scandal Resurfaces:
  Olbermann connects the “media ceasefire” over Iran to the re-emergence of the Epstein files coverup, focusing on Trump’s alleged links and DOJ’s avoidance tactics:

  “There's a vacuum of the running story… something easy to digest, like the Attorney General who Trump fired because she butchered the Epstein files is now refusing to show up to testify to Congress…” (18:41)

• Suppression of Investigative Evidence:
  He references a Charleston Post and Courier story about FBI notes that mention Trump’s alleged involvement, with significant details withheld from official summaries:

  “Some details in the handwritten notes never made it into the prepared summaries, which were heavily redacted by the Justice Department before their public release…” (19:45)

3. Calls for Political Action: Impeachment and the 25th Amendment (14:09 – 16:25)

• Criticism of Democratic Leadership:
  Olbermann prods Democrats to force accountability by either impeaching Trump or demanding his cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment, mocking House and Senate leaders for hesitancy:

  “Do something. Push a button.” (16:07)

• Role of J.D. Vance:
  “Now, if there were any doubt, we know entirely why [Vance] is vice president for this exact moment in which the Democrats are growing something of a spine…” (14:42)

4. The Media’s Failure and The White House Correspondents’ Dinner (36:46 – 54:31)

• Scathing Media Critique:
  Olbermann excoriates the media’s inability to challenge Trump’s abuses, highlighting their shallow “pocket squares” protest—First Amendment pocket squares designed by Jake Tapper—as symbolic of their ineffectiveness:

  “The failure of the news media is the biggest and the most consequential of the last decade.” (38:14) “You don't need a law if everybody lines up to be marched off to the camps anyway…” (49:19)

• Calls for Direct Action:
  He urges correspondents to walk out en masse when Trump enters the Correspondents’ Dinner, rather than settle for toothless “protest pocket squares”.

5. “Worst Persons in the World” and Linguistic Lamentations (33:42 – 36:46)

• Targets Mocked:
  Olbermann lampoons internet figures (e.g., Dr. Naomi Wolf), right-wing influencers, and Trump supporters for poor English and credulity. He especially mocks the repeated misuse of "commander and chief."
• Media Figures:
  Jake Tapper is targeted for performative protest and lack of substantive resistance, along with other network figures.

6. Media Anecdote: Jerry Dunphy and Old School News (54:48 – 69:56)

• Broadcasting Memories:
  Olbermann closes with a humor-filled reminiscence about LA news legend Jerry Dunphy, relating the importance of news delivery, catchphrases, and the quirks of local TV history.
• Classic Blunder:
  Story of Dunphy, famed for “From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California, good evening,” and the on-air gaffe when the line appeared twice on the teleprompter.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On War Timing:
  • “This is way more fire than cease. How do you lose a ceasefire, El Presidente?” (04:12, Olbermann)
• On Presidential Incompetence:
  • “Should we remove Trump as president because he’s evil? Should we remove Trump as president because he’s crazy? Or should we remove Trump as president because he’s stupid?” (09:56, Olbermann)
• On Surrendering the Strait of Hormuz:
  • “Iran, which did not get to decide which ships got past Hormuz and which didn’t, now gets to decide that. Trump now claims we will share in the tolls—reportedly $2 million a ship. Spoiler alert: We will not.” (10:23, Olbermann)
• Mocking Media Protest:
  • “What happens when you bring nail clippers to the proverbial gunfight?” (26:03, Olbermann)
  • “The only possible use pocket squares could have in this scenario is if Trump finally gets reporters to bleed in front of him and you get all the pocket squares together to mop it up...” (50:48, Olbermann)
• On Jake Tapper:
  • “Jake Tapper, who is fighting for America’s survival with pocket squares. The only possible use pocket squares could have in this scenario…” (50:48, Olbermann)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening / Special Comment: Trump, Iran, and the Midterm Crisis – [04:12–13:44]
• Democratic Strategy, 25th Amendment, and J.D. Vance – [14:09–16:25]
• Epstein Files Cover-up Explained – [16:25–22:13]
• Trump Cabinet and Epstein, Giuliani Scandals – [22:13–23:42]
• Media Critique: The Worst Persons – [33:42–36:46]
• White House Correspondents’ Dinner and Protest Pocket Squares – [36:46–54:31]
• Personal Anecdote: Jerry Dunphy and LA TV News – [54:48–69:56]

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Closing Tone and Message

Olbermann’s delivery veers between biting satire, frustrated rage, and rueful nostalgia for media accountability and clarity in public life. He lampoons the shallowness of current protest culture in journalism, the myopia (and self-interest) of leadership, and the bottomless cynicism he attributes to the Trump administration. The aim: to jolt listeners into seeing the gravity of coordinated power plays against democracy, using both sharp analysis and humorous derision.

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This episode is a forceful call for vigilance, substance, and action—in the media, in politics, and among everyday Americans derailed and distracted by news cycles manipulated from above.

Transcript

[Keith Olbermann]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Jon Favreau]

Guaranteed Human.

[Keith Olbermann]

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't. It costs just 27 cents a day less than a cup of coffee. For peace of before you assume you're covered, go to mypolicyadvocate.com you might be shocked at what you find. Mypolicyadvocate.com support for the show comes from

[Public Podcast Sponsor]

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[Charlamagne Tha God]

Peace to the planet. Charlamagne Tha God here. And listen, we are back. The Black Effect Podcast Festival is back in Atlanta on April 25th at Pullman Yard. Yes, and the full lineup is nuts. We got the Grits and Eggs podcast, Deontay Kyle and Big Ice Cup Cat. We got Club 520 with Jeff Teague and the gang. Don't call Me White Girl Mona will be there. Keep it positive, Sweetie with Crystal Renee. We got Reality with the King with Carlos King. And yes, Drink champs will be in the building. Plus, you know we gonna have a lot of guests, so you need to join us. And we got the Black Effect Marketplace, the picture podcast and everything you expect from the Black Effect Podcast Festival. Tickets are on sale right now. Go get [e-mail] podcast festival. Don't play yourself. Okay, pull up.

[Keith Olbermann]

Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a production of iHeartradio. Did Trump choose to lose to Iran because the war was escalating too quickly for him? Firstly, great ceasefire Trump. Oh, we didn't mention it doesn't include Lebanon, but it does include Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz on day one. Ceasefire. This is way more fire than cease. How do you lose a ceasefire, El Presidente? But the bigger question Did Trump call off his genocide? Did he, as a Twitter wag suggested, play both Hitler and Chamberlain here because he didn't need the missiles flying this week? Because this is way too early to precipitate some kind of security crisis here in America. Did he give the Iranians control of Hormuz and let them keep their uranium and get them out from under the sanctions? Because while the first reason for this pointless brinksmanship was a distraction from the Epstein files, the second reason was to have a reason in late summer and early autumn to maybe declare a domestic emergency here and mess with the elections. Is this not about nukes and Israel and oil and 47 years this and regime changed that and I already killed their civilization, so now I'm gonna kill it again? Is this instead about the chance that in his fascist madness and fugue state and with his dissolving brain, he completely screwed up the timing. He didn't need retaliation from Iran and maybe terrorism, real or staged or just made up on April 9, he needs it on October 9. So this was all not only postponed, but it was postponed already, pre sabotaged. So he can keep it on a back burner till then or bring it back later when he needs to lie and say Iran is a threat right here at home. I could paraphrase the historian Tim Snyder, who is smarter than the rest of us and has already moved from Yale to the University of Toronto last year, but why paraphrase Let me quote on Twitter. Tim Snyder invoked Hungary and Viktor Orban and his false flag fake terror scam there, which was made as JV Vance was arriving there. And to that Tim Snyder added this quote. We are seven months away from the most consequential midterm election in the history of the United States. Meanwhile, we are fighting war. These are the structural conditions for a coup attempt in which a president tries to nullify elections and take permanent power as a dictator. On his substack. Professor Snyder fleshed out this nightmare. And again, out of respect, I'm just quoting this Trump tells us that he is chiefly concerned with the permanence of his own comfort and power. Think about ballroom and bunker, much of which he will lose when his party is defeated decisively in the midterms. He regularly declares his intention to meddle in the elections. His party backed a bill which would have turned elections into a sham. Trump wants to increase the defense budget by nearly 50% without any review of what the money is for. This is strategic nonsense and has to be understood as a payoff for the men who, as he imagines, will help him install a dictatorship. Tim Snyder to be clear, the other part of this Iran is a threat in America, so we can't have the midterms or we have to have troops at the polling places, or you can only vote if you show your passport or Iran hacked the computers. I'm throwing out the elections. That's me theorizing, not Snyder. I will again add that the ceasefire is not the end of the Iran excuse. It is merely the postponement of the Iran excuse. If you give everything another two weeks, every two weeks, you only need to do it about a dozen more times. And then suddenly the threat from Iran to our elections comes back up around election Day. Regardless, the exact midterm plan, whatever it is he might use to try, this is almost incidental to the phony rationale. The rationale, oh, Iran or oh, threat from, I don't know, Mexico. That's what counts. And Snyder said it more succinctly. And he also has an idea. His idea is he proposes a nationwide day of mobilization and protest on May 1st. I suppose Trump might postpone that for two weeks, Stepping back from the political science fiction brink. And sadly, it may be anything but fiction. There is a domestic crisis at the moment because this past week has underscored the hidden truth of the Trump criminal cartel, that he is a moron. A moron who cannot even subvert the government properly while he is in charge of that government. Trump didn't just break what little stability was left in the Middle East. He erased whatever was left here. Who is our military expert? Trump says he is. Who is our Middle east expert? Trump says he is. Who is our wartime leader? Trump says he is. Who is our man of peace? Trump says he is. The reality is Trump literally struggles to successfully point to the drawing of the camel on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test, and his people yesterday decided to have an argument with the Pope over peace. Should we remove Trump as president because he's evil? Should we remove Trump as president because he's crazy? Or should we remove Trump as president because he's stupid? The only outcome of this, his version of the Cuban Missile crisis. The only outcome of this, his version of the Pearl harbor plan, minus the secret part, the only outcome is America officially has given control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran. Iran, which did not get to decide which ships got past Hormuz and which didn't, now gets to decide that. Trump now claims we will share in the tolls, reportedly $2 million a ship. Spoiler alert. We will not share in the tolls, and Iran will make billions. And remember, on March 22, Trump declared Iran was dead. On March 6, he had demanded its unconditional surrender. This is unconditional surrender. He gets to share the tollbooth at the Strait of Hormuz with a country he said was dead, and he's the one who gets to work the night shift. Oh, and we have Trump in his amazing and escalating idiocy, calling it a double sided ceasefire because he's too much of a Dying, melting brain moron. To realize that all ceasefires are double sided. That a one sided ceasefire would be a ceasefire in which you stop shooting at the other gu, but the other guy keeps shooting at you, which usually means you get shot. We went through all that. And then having to listen to that stupid cloying nails on a blackboard, deviated septum, bridge and tunnel, white trash voice of his lying that he somehow won. And then having to listen to all the brainwashed brain dead apologists agreeing and listening to his spokesperson, the blow up doll. When Iran won this hands down, Iran won our conflict with Iran. Trump attacked Iran and Iran won. He picked a fight in hopes he could destroy Iran's religious dictatorship and strengthen America's influence on foreign policy. Only to destroy America's influence on foreign policy, especially among our allies, and strengthen Iran's religious dictatorship, which now is going to make billions off the Strait of Hormuz. Quote, open the fucking straight, you crazy bastards. Unquote. Shut your fucking mouth, you half wit President. The lights are on, but no one's home.

[Jon Favreau]

Literally, before I started my remarks, I

[Charlamagne Tha God]

actually had a special guest that asked

[Jon Favreau]

that I give him a phone call and we'll see.

[Keith Olbermann]

Let's hope he actually answers, but this

[Jon Favreau]

is going to be very embarrassing. All right, I'm sorry.

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The person you are trying to reach has a voicemail box that has not been set up yet.

[Jon Favreau]

Okay, try one more time.

[Keith Olbermann]

To quote Billy Connolly, Jesus suffering fuck, Voicemail could run this country better than Trump does. By the way, that was JV Vance speaking, who's now at 37% approval, who wrote Hillbilly Elegy after bell hooks wrote Appalachian Elegy, who wrote Communion after bell hooks wrote Communion, and whose new book, Communion not by Bell Hooks, is about his Catholicism and his conversion and the church on the COVID of his new book is a Methodist church that he has never been to. And now, if there were any doubt, we know entirely why he is vice president for this exact moment in which the Democrats are growing something of a spine to maybe impeach Trump at least symbolically, or pass a resolution demanding his cabinet 25th him. And even some Republicans are agreeing. And then they all remember, oh, Vance would become president. And while Trump nearly started a nuclear war because of his ego, Vance might start a nuclear war because he had plagiarized the idea from Trump. The point now is for Democrats to press for impeachment, have a vote or be creative. I know I'm asking Jeffries and Schumer to be creative, but pass a resolution Demanding Trump's cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment, put it under their noses. Jamie Raskin is hosting a virtual briefing tomorrow on the 25th. And trump accountability, that's a start. But fellas, this is your chance. Do something. Push a button. On the other hand, here comes the Epstein files again. Happily, imbeciles attract. If Trump is in fact our best defense against Trump. Pam Bondi is our second best defense against Trump. Instead of just going to her hearing. The bipartisan subpoena for her deposition about Epstein was for her testimony by her name. It says Pamela Joe Bondi. It does not say the Attorney General. It is thus still legally binding. Instead of just going and tap dancing and taking the fall, basically making it about her and making it a one day, one line story. The Department of Justice has thrown the issue of the Epstein files cover up back entirely on the White House. Entirely. It says because she is no longer Attorney General, she doesn't have to go. Thank you. That's fantastic of you. Combine this with the fact that as suggested earlier, Trump lost. Looks like even more of an idiot than earlier. The Iran cease fire may not mean much on the ground in the Middle east, but it means there is a ceasefire in the media here and news coverage will shortly have to move on. And there's a vacuum of the running story on all networks worldwide. Really. And something easy to digest, like the Attorney General who Trump fired because she butchered the Epstein files is now refusing to show up to testify to Congress about butchering the Epstein files. Well, that can fill the news hole pretty easily, can't it? Just a little bit more substance from this general topic. And it's back to 24. 7 Epstein cover up just like before the war with Iran. Substance like this story from the Charleston Post and Courier that there are 30 pages of FBI agent notes about the case of the woman who alleged just seven years ago that Epstein groomed her and abused her on Hilton Head island and that she traveled with him to New York in the 80s and he introduced her to Donald Trump. The White House has trashed the story and trashed her and trashed the investigation and trashed every reporter. And it looks like Trump is hiding 30 pages of agent notes. Quoting the Charleston paper. FBI agents prepared handwritten interview notes that contain names of possible corroborating witnesses and other information detailing a woman's accusations that Jeffrey Epstein lured her into his deviant orbit when she was a teen on Hilton Head island and sexually abused her. The Post and courier reviewed 30 pages of FBI agents notes which have not been publicly released. The notes made by agents in a series of 2019 interviews offer a few new details about her claim that she traveled with Epstein to the New York area in the 1980s. She alleged that she encountered Donald Trump during a visit and was once forced into a sex act, unquote. But wait, there's more. The reporters compared those agent notes that they got to see and the rest of us can't with the official FBI summaries of those interviews. The so called 302, and again quoting some details in the handwritten notes, never made it into the prepared summaries, which were heavily redacted by the Justice Department before their public release as required by law. During one interview, for instance, an agent scribbled that the woman provided the names of four young teen girls who, by her account, attended a pool party on Hilton Head when Epstein came by. This was during the time when she alleged Epstein was sexually assaulting her and plying her with drugs and alcohol. Details about the four friends were not visible in the FBI's 302 reports and may have been redacted in an effort to protect victim privacy. The last part is good. The rest of it is another scandal. In short, there is a whole new Epstein scandal. It at least sideswipes Trump. It involves investigation details being buried during the first Trump administration and now being covered up during the second Trump administration. Again, there are two levels. Justice, which is paramount for the victims, and revelation, which is also important and may be paramount for the nation and which can be facilitated if key Democratic politicians pick up the loose ball sitting in front of them and just run with it. So not Jeffries or Schumer. Now, in a corner of the Trump Epstein coverup, by the way, there remains Rudy Giuliani. Sure enough, I do a piece the other day about his metaphorical disappearance. Whatever happened to Rudy Giuliani? And in it, I said his name three times and up he pops like Beetlejuice. We still haven't seen him anywhere, but his attorneys have now been in court trying to bury the Noel Dunphy lawsuit. Now, this is a seven course meal of scandal. Noel Dunphy was Giuliani's assistant. She sued him for 10 million, alleging sexual assault, failure to pay her $2 million in wages, and most importantly, she claimed that he asked her several times if she knew anybody who wanted to buy a pardon from him and Trump. A million each, she said, he said. Giuliani moved to dismiss the case, and a New York State Supreme Court justice has now ruled. No, there's a. There's a case There the facts can be debated. We don't know the facts here, but the justification for the suit is not in dispute and it will proceed, quote, the parties shall continue with discovery immediately. So I guess we will discover where the hell Rudy is. And what about these $2 million for sale TRUMP pardons? Allegedly. Maybe Rudy is now advising Marqune Mullen. Or is it? How is this pronounced?

[Jon Favreau]

Marconye Marqua.

[Keith Olbermann]

Mark. Whatever it is, by the time he gets fired as head of Homeland Security, we will have built a statue saluting the comparative brilliance and integrity of Kristi Noemi Mullen, a partially sentient cow pie. And Nepo Plumber has a plan. He done thinked up hisself. He believes sanctuary cities are illegal. Cool, bud, whatever you like. He also believes nobody notices he colors his beard, possibly with coffee grounds. Mullen wants to retaliate against sanctuary cities by hamstringing their airports, closing the customs offices in them. So you could not fly into this country via Boston, New York, Washington, a dozen other cities. They could no longer have international airports in Boston or New York or Washington.

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Cool.

[Keith Olbermann]

Great idea, Plumber.

[Jon Favreau]

So nobody can come into the country

[Keith Olbermann]

this summer for the soccer World cup, and the entire American airline industry will collapse. 11% of air travel in this country on American carriers is international. Congratulations, Marquene. You have just eliminated the profits of the airline industry. You have just put a hole in the national economy. Oh, and you just shut off all international flights to Washington D.C.

[Jon Favreau]

as I

[Keith Olbermann]

said before, imbeciles attract.

[Jon Favreau]

Which reminds me. Remember I told you Jeff Shell was

[Keith Olbermann]

on his last legs as president of

[Jon Favreau]

the new Paramount company that has been prostituting cbs?

[Keith Olbermann]

He's out. Resigned yesterday. This is the guy whose flex was. I should have known he was a liar. Well, even the Ellisons apparently have figured that out. That is now two networks in three years that have fired the same guy as president. This means TV networks may actually be dumber about hiring disreputable retread bosses than hockey teams are about hiring disreputable retread head coaches. Also of interest here, as Trump threatens to arrest reporters and says he is ordering CNN to kill a story he didn't like. It's pathetic that Trump will be at the White House Correspondents Dinner, but Stephen Colbert will not. Nor will anybody else who could mock Trump or criticize Trump to his face. But our valiant news, which has failed as much as any other group has failed in the last decade of dissent in this country, now has the perfect protest planned for the dinner. Turning their backs on Trump. No walking out en masse when he arrives. No swearing at him. No, no, no. They have the perfect plan. They will all be wearing pocket squares. Protest pocket squares. Protest pocket squares with drawings on them. Done by America's greatest living journalist, Jake Tapper. What happens when you bring nail clippers to the proverbial gunfight? That's next? 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 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 youm might be shocked at what you find. Mypolicyadvocate.com Support for the show comes from

[Public Podcast Sponsor]

Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures Time for

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[Martha Stewart]

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[Lily Herman]

Ready for a different take on Formula one? Look no further than no Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the underexplored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid.

[Jon Favreau]

Lewis Hamilton, Capricorn Sun Cancer Moon Wouldn't you know it, Michael Schumacher is also

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And plenty of other mishaps, scandals and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful decadent dumpster fire for more than 75 years. Listen to no Grip on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Keith Olbermann]

George Carlin, pleasure to have you here. Thank you. This is the best news show ever. I told that to one of your producers and I want you to know that I've seen them all and it's just the first, especially the first 35 minutes. Thank you, sir. It's just, just unparalleled. I got bad news. Between you and I. We got six minutes to completely screw that into the ground. Okay, that's good. Still ahead on this edition of Countdown, it was this time of the year, 51 years ago, when a newscaster for the CBS station in Los Angeles, speaking of great newscasts, when he did not win the news ratings period for LA, the spring sweeps, after 20 years of his station and of himself winning all of the ratings periods since they started ratings periods in the 50s. So the geniuses at CBS in New York fired him and fired basically everybody else on the newscast. And this newscaster then went down the street to the ABC station and they proceeded to win all the ratings periods for the next 20 years because technically, this man was as good as anybody ever was reading the news on tv. But he admitted that that was in part because he never thought thought while he was on tv he just read. Which itself led to one of the greatest, dumbest bloopers in TV history, the saga of Jerry Dunphy. From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California to the night he forgot Next. In another thing I promised not to tell in the interim, we always have more new idiots to talk about. The roundup of the miscreants, Morons and Dunning Kruger effect specimens who constitute today's other worst persons in the world. This episode is dedicated to Dr. Naomi Wolf, who was once considered a prominent writer of some kind. I believe she was on a very early episode of my original MSNBC show, the Big Show. She may have been on the first episode. And like I said after I Met Trump in 1983, I said to a colleague, what the f is wrong with this person? Anyway, her Twitter handle remains Dr. Naomi Wolff, 8 New York Times best sellers. Because if you've achieved that moment in life in which you can't wait to get people just to your bio on Twitter to tell them you have been on the bestseller list eight times, but you have to put it in your handle on each of your tweets you have lost at life. In any event, there were many spectacularly bad reactions to the Artemis flight around the moon like mine. You know, this was a thing they did when I was nine years old. But you're expecting me to be super impressed now when I'm 67. Oh boy, they did it again. How about I show you how I can tie my shoes? But hers eclipsed me and everybody else on this planet retweeting two of the great photos of the moon. Dr. Naomi Wolfe, 8 New York Times best sellers, wrote, call me ill informed. What a coincidence. We all do. Call me ill informed. I was an English major, but what is the light source here? Um,

[Jon Favreau]

the sun.

[Keith Olbermann]

She now claims she meant what was the angle of the sun? Where was the crack positioned relative to the moon? Did she mention she wrote eight New York Times bestsellers? She didn't even make the medalist list. They are the bronze Worse. Shared by this week's Egg Corn People.

[Jon Favreau]

Trump edition.

[Keith Olbermann]

These are Reggie Hargett, Kiki brooks, Kelis, Sarah McWilliams and Samantha Jane James. Samantha Jane James. Edictionsbysj on Twitter X is like a psychic stock analyst or something. I can't quite figure it out. She's shown wearing a headset and aqua glasses and she's writing about Jordan Peterson in defense of Jordan Peterson, another rocket scientist. I use Jordan's teachings and ideas as a litness test. L I T N I s Litness test as to whether or not I want to spend time with someone. If they can't get on board with someone like Jordan Peterson, they are just too low IQ for me. Litmus L I t N I s By any chance, madam, do you mean litmus? You're asking for a litmus test or a litmus test about iq, you moron. Because a litmus test would be about Litmus Fashion, which is a Colombian influenced clothing store at 2707 Folsom street in San Francisco, California. Lit.

[Jon Favreau]

Better still.

[Keith Olbermann]

On another topic, we had a theme from reggieharget if I wanted and he was complaining about this senator who said that Trump should not bomb civilians. If I wanted Ron Johnson to make decisions as commander and chief, I would vote for him to do so. But I didn't wait. Kiki Brooks Kellis writes, our Western civilization and American way of life doesn't just happen by coincidence. And praying alone won't work. It must be savagely forged by men of great power and capacity.

[Jon Favreau]

Trump is not the Pope. He's not a deacon, he's not a pastor.

[Keith Olbermann]

This is referring to his swearing. He's the commander and chief. And Sarah McWilliams went even more biblical on his ass. Good for our president.

[Jon Favreau]

Christ is king.

[Keith Olbermann]

God bless and protect our commander and chief. Now these idiots could be bots or Russian intelligence overnight shift influencers.

[Jon Favreau]

People who do not speak English might

[Keith Olbermann]

have heard somewhere, commander in chief, commander in chief and commander in chief and just assumed it was and but I don't think so. What's really frightening is if you look

[Jon Favreau]

at the avatars of the those three

[Keith Olbermann]

people and the 50 or so others

[Jon Favreau]

that I saw who used the phrase

[Keith Olbermann]

commander and chief, none of the pictures in the avatars are of Young people.

[Jon Favreau]

Young people who might be able to have claimed they had been failed by

[Keith Olbermann]

the declining concern in our education system about, you know, education. Commander and Chief. Hey, Commander.

[Jon Favreau]

You also Chief. Hey, Chief. I guess it could be worse.

[Keith Olbermann]

It could be Commander Ring Chief or Commando in Chief. Runner up worser.

[Jon Favreau]

Nikita Bier. B I E R. Buyer. Chief of product at X. Meaning he doesn't do anything. There is no product there. So he's a musk toady. Well, apparently there's a big change at X that he let slip. I mean, who knew he had a online dispute with the equally lost Nate Silver?

[Keith Olbermann]

And out it slipped.

[Jon Favreau]

Replying to natesilver538. Can you stop, quote, tweeting? Without the context, it's intellectually dishonest. Quote, tweeting. It's called tweeting again, Mr. Musk aid. So it's not X. You want us to say tweeting? Okay, you got it. I won't tell Elon. Good luck with your next job, Nikita. But our winner, the White House Correspondents Association. I will again contend that of all of the guardrail failures, of all the

[Keith Olbermann]

institutional disasters of the last desperate nightmare

[Jon Favreau]

decade, even giving them the benefit of the doubt. The benefits of the doubt that their industry is dying and all their jobs are now at risk every day. That many of them signed mortgages back when it didn't look that the thing would collapse. Certainly not this quickly. Having graded them against that curve, I will still insist that the failure of the news media is the biggest and the most consequential of the last decade. Politicians turning into whores.

[Keith Olbermann]

Really?

[Jon Favreau]

You thought Lindsey Graham was sincere? You thought people like Marco Rubio could be trusted to say the same thing today as they said yesterday. I don't think he really did. But the correspondence. These are people, even the young ones, who grew up watching and reading of Woodward and Bernstein and saw all the President's Men, and I mean watched all the President's men in 2007 and wanted to be like that. And instead they came out like this. Not just whores, but ineffectual whores who then didn't charge. The failure of the media is the greatest of any institution in this country. And the failure of those covering our government, and particularly of this White House, that's the greatest failure of them all this week alone. Donald Trump, a fascist dictator waiting for his opportunity to cancel the elections. It may come, it may not. Demanded that Fox News fire its token liberal, Jessica Tarlov, because she's liberal Now, Remember, Fox listens to Trump and Many of the people who run the place do not appreciate the that Trump is crazy. And others there who think he's crazy believe that everything he says has already been approved by Rupert Murdoch. They could listen to that and take it as an instruction from Rupert Murdoch. Jessica Tarloff could get fired. It wouldn't probably happen at anywhere else except the network owned by the government, cbs. It wouldn't happen anywhere else. But it could happen at Fox. Now, to be fair, it would probably increase Jessica Tarlov's health and she could get paid much more somewhere else. But he, he, he threatened jail for whoever reported that there was a missing airman in Iran. He said, we're going to go to the media company that released it and we're going to say, national security.

[Keith Olbermann]

Give it up or go to jail.

[Jon Favreau]

And it appears there that one of his targets is CBS News. His government owns CBS News. You're gonna put one of your own employees in jail? Well, you probably would. Trump is still menacing the free press in this country, still trying to get people in it killed, still calling them enemies of the people, still publicly berating them, especially the women. And two weeks from Saturday night, all the White House correspondents will still have Trump at their annual dinner. There's no comedian, there's no critic at the dinner. There's no Stephen Colbert.

[Keith Olbermann]

I have mentioned a few times Stephen Colbert and I have politely, and sometimes not so politely loathed each other since about 2 minutes after we met in 2006 or 7. How much money would you pay to watch Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent's Dinner on Pay Per View with Trump sitting next to him? Even if he was only allowed to talk for 90 seconds, I'd pay a thousand dollars. And I hate Stephen Colbert. No, there will not be a Stephen Colbert. There won't even be a Byron Allen there. The only speaker will be a mentalist called Oz Perlman. The only person the White House Correspondents association has had the courage to invite to speak between the terrible salad and the terrible chicken or what might be fish or could be meatloaf, the only person who will speak will be mentalist Oz Perlman, who I guess will be there using his psychic powers and his superior mind to see if he can find among the thousand attendees, one scruple. Nobody who could possibly criticize Fuhrer. Trump will be speaking at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Trump, though, will be there. Trump, who would like to see them all garrotted? How are America's news organizations responding to this? How are the ones who still have A pulse. How are they responding to this? Are they boycotting? Are they refusing to attend in the first place? Well, HuffPo, formerly Huffington Post, they have announced they are boycotting. And good for them. Anybody else? Crickets, Mississippi, now msnbc, the place basically I invented. Now they're going to show up, probably have another party with Rachel Maddow mixing drinks for people, because that certainly is dignified. Cbs. Well, cbs, now NBC. NBC, pbs. What will the rest of them do to protest this insult, this potentially lethal insult to American media, this farcical obey in advance decision to let Donald fucking Trump attend the White House Correspondent's Dinner, but not Stephen Colbert or Byron Allen or Carrot Top? What will they do to protest? We have an answer. They will wear pocket squares. Pocket squares. Protest pocket squares. Jake Tapper. Protest pocket squares. I read from Status from the usual reliable Oliver Darcy, who comes up a little short this time. Pocket squares and pins with the words of the First Amendment in a subversive gesture supporting press freedom, reflecting the news media's consciousness of the perilous moment it's in and why. The First Amendment merchandise is part of a campaign from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press designed to provide the press corps with a visible way of signaling support for press freedom on the one night of the year when the industry gathers in full force. Basically a handkerchief, something Trump can grab from them and blow his nose on or some other part of his wretched body. Like members of Congress coordinating colors, status rights to make a political statement during the State of the Union Address. What?

[Jon Favreau]

Oh, yeah, they did do that.

[Keith Olbermann]

Now, like me when you heard that. Like members of Congress coordinating colors to make a political statement during the State of the Union Address, did you say? Hmm?

[Jon Favreau]

When was that? 2015, 1927?

[Keith Olbermann]

And which party was it and what was the issue? I bet you don't remember any of that. Cause I sure as hell don't, because that was. Oh, well, the display will be subtle like that, according to this statement. No, the word you were looking for there was invisible. Not to take away from the purpose of the event, the White House Correspondents Dinner, but it serves as a symbolic demonstration that Trump won't be able to

[Jon Favreau]

miss from his seat on the stage.

[Keith Olbermann]

I'm sorry Trump won't be able to miss it from his seat on the stage. He has such bad vision that he wears glasses almost all of the time when he's not on camera and he's

[Jon Favreau]

so vain that he will not wear them when anybody can see him.

[Keith Olbermann]

But he's not going to miss something Written in small print on an effing

[Jon Favreau]

pocket square at a distance of 20

[Keith Olbermann]

or 30ft in an audience that he

[Jon Favreau]

doesn't even want to see.

[Keith Olbermann]

And it's a quote from the Constitution

[Jon Favreau]

which he doesn't really believe exists and has been immunized from its consequences.

[Keith Olbermann]

And he's going to read something from

[Jon Favreau]

a pocket square in the audience with a thousand people. If the entire city of Syracuse, New

[Keith Olbermann]

York were in the audience at the

[Jon Favreau]

White House car spot, its dinner, Trump wouldn't see them.

[Keith Olbermann]

Besides which, wherever he looks, whenever he looks, all he sees are different images of himself. But he's going to recognize a quote from the Constitution on a piece of cloth roughly 3 inches square. Oh, and this won't take away from the purpose of the event. Well, forgive me for asking this, but what the fuck is the purpose of the White House Correspondent's Dinner? Is the purpose of the White House Correspondents Dinner to celebrate the total failure of its membership over the last decade? Is the purpose of this dinner to put the focus on Jake Tapper's patriotic pocket squares of protest? Jake Tapper, who was too afraid to fact check Trump at the presidential debate,

[Jon Favreau]

who so needs his paycheck even though

[Keith Olbermann]

he has enough money to cover him

[Jon Favreau]

for the rest of his life, who

[Keith Olbermann]

so covets the money that he was afraid to fact check Trump on behalf of, you know, democracy and not bombing Iran and blowing up schoolgirls.

[Jon Favreau]

No, no, he has to keep that job. He has to have that job because, frankly, what else could Jake Tapper do for a living?

[Keith Olbermann]

He sucks at television and he has no journalistic ethics, but he makes a hell of a pocket square.

[Jon Favreau]

This is all to put focus on Jake Tapper, too afraid to fact check Trump at a presidential debate, but still

[Keith Olbermann]

trying to sell books about Biden's brain

[Jon Favreau]

while still not mentioning the truth about

[Keith Olbermann]

Trump's brain, which is he doesn't have a brain.

[Jon Favreau]

Because these are not. This isn't me. I'm not being hyperbolic. These are literally Jake Tappett capper pocket squares.

[Keith Olbermann]

I am again quoting Oliver Darcy.

[Jon Favreau]

Items like pocket squares, tote bags, and phone wallets bearing the text, Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, a hand drawn design by CNN's Jake Tapper rise to the occasion. Whether or not it rises to the occasion, while rubbing elbows with the President who regularly labels journalists enemies of the people will surely be debated. Well, frankly, why do we have to worry about the law that says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of Speech or of the press, when the American press is so busy volunteering to abridge its own freedoms of speech and the press. You don't need a law if everybody lines up to be marched off to the camps anyway

[Keith Olbermann]

to resume Darcy.

[Jon Favreau]

The effort speaks to the elephant in the room. This is no ordinary whcd, given the Trump's administration overt attempts to discredit and undermine the press. Well, that's right. It is no ordinary whcd. The ordinary White House Correspondent's dinner was once timelessly dismissed as the Oscars for ugly people, and this dinner is not even up to that standard. One more quote from Darcy. Top journalists have also embraced the effort. I am so excited to wear this pocket square. A quote you could only get from

[Keith Olbermann]

a reporter or a mannequin.

[Jon Favreau]

I am so excited to wear this pocket square, especially at events in D.C. where there are many people who know how vital the First Amendment is, and also quite a few who might need to be reminded of its importance. Ooh, I'll bet Trump has to go to the hospital after he hears that quote. Oh, what a stinging insult. What a vivisection of Donald Trump's ego that that is.

[Keith Olbermann]

Also quite a few who might need to be reminded of its importance.

[Jon Favreau]

Who said that? Who verbalized that Pablum grade press release right there? That's right.

[Keith Olbermann]

That was Jake Tapper talking about Jake

[Jon Favreau]

Tapper's pocket squares made by Jake Tapper. Jake Tapper, who is fighting for America's survival with pocket squares. The only possible use pocket squares could have in this scenario is if is if Trump finally gets reporters to bleed in front of him and you get all the pocket squares together to mop it up with pocket squares. Jake Tapper making Susan Collins look like a decisive radical and Chuck Schumer look like a wartime consigliere.

[Keith Olbermann]

Pocket squares.

[Jon Favreau]

Holy shit. What members of the White House Correspondents association should do is this. They should coordinate in advance, and when Trump is introduced or when he enters the room at the Hilton in Washington, I assume they still have it there. If not, they've moved to some other rat's nest. When Trump comes in, they should go out, they should storm out. They should rise as one and leave in protest. They should jeer and swear and chant, impeach Trump now. Or at least freedom of the effing press. Swear a little, boys, and they should all walk out in protest. And if they don't think they should, let them ask their female colleagues who are the particular victims of Trump's abuse and for whom? No male member of the White House Correspondents association has set up said anything in the last year or done anything of consequence. Shame on you. You are humiliating our gender. You are humiliating our species. They should all walk out in protest. They should all march out in protest. And I understand the real problem here. If a reporter has paid more than $3 for a meal, he expects the food. Take your piece of chicken or your fish and your salad and stuff them in your coat pockets like you do at every other event with food. Take them with you. If that's the problem here. Here it's the meal that you come for. Nevermind Trump or the communal gathering of reporters. Take the food with you. Stuff it in your pants, but do something. Pretend you live here too. Remember that Trump has isolated himself from the slightest criticism and has no earthly clue how much he is hated and how much of this country spends all its time talking about one topic only. And we know what that topic is. He knows nothing of this. Somebody stand up in the middle of the White House Correspondents Dinner and shout out, hey, Trump, do you know what everybody talks about online? They talk about when the hell you are going to. They don't have to do that. They have Jake Tapper pocket squares, for God's sake. You haven't failed enough. When I said that the media failure was the greatest in the last decade of failure, you decided I hadn't proven my case sufficiently, so you did it more. You're gonna just sit there and obey in advance for a man who literally wants you all dead, who has called on his cult to try to kill you in stochastic terrorist terms, tried to inspire them to assault you and in many cases have assaulted you and gotten away with it. Because he has.

[Keith Olbermann]

He's.

[Jon Favreau]

The only thing he's good at is carefully phrasing things so you can't pin it on him. And you're just going to sit there in the same room with this scumbag so you can get your pictures on C Span

[Keith Olbermann]

and you can get your Jake Tapper protest pocket squares. The White House correspondents all but Jake Tapper. Jake Tapper should not walk out. He should be left there alone with Trump so he can take advantage of the situation and sell Trump a pocket square. Today's worst persons in the world. To the number one story on the Countdown. And my favorite topic, me and things I promise not to tell. And somebody sent me a video of him the other day and I laughed again and I flashed back again. And now you get to hear about him too. From the desert to the Sea to all of Southern California. Good evening. You may or may not have ever heard of Jerry Dunphy. That statement that you may or may not have ever heard of Jerry Dunphy just sent anybody from Southern California who was more than 35 years old into a deep, stunned silence. Because Jerry Dunphy was ubiquitous on TV news in Los Angeles from 1960 until 2002, he died a week after his last newscast. And there are some in the business who half seriously believe he may show up again sooner or later on TV, even though he. He's dead. He worked for Channel 2, and he and his team won all the ratings wars for 15 years. And then one year the station finished only tied for first in the spring LA ratings of 1975. So the CBS corporate geniuses in New York fired him and he went to Channel 7 like 36 hours later. And then Channel 7 won nearly all the ratings periods there over 14 years. And then after six years at Channel 9, he was hired back at Channel 2, where he started where they fired him, hired back at Channel 2 for a couple million more than he was making when they fired him 20 years earlier. And then he went back to Channel Nine and he was still on every night at the age of 80. And, oh, by the way, he worked for 29 years after he came out of the KABC studios on the night of October 24, 1983, hopped into his Rolls Royce with the station makeup lady by his side, and was ambushed and shot in the neck by four assailants, leading him to issue the memorable statement, they said, don't move, and I didn't. But they shot anyway, and they never figured out who shot him or why. But Jerry Dunphy was back on the air three weeks later anyway. And you cannot imagine how many different guesses there were about that in the LA news industry when I was on the air there from 1985 through 1991. There is no question that in creating the fictional newscasters Ted Baxter and Kent Brockman and maybe even Ron Burgundy, much was stolen from Jerry Dunphy. Jerry Dunphy had a huge shock of white hair, a craggy face, and a rich baritone voice. He was in 21 different movies, including oh, God, and the Amazing Ann Margret. Flicker. Kitten with a Whip. No, really, there is an Ann Margret film called Kitten with a Whip. Anyway, I knew Jerry Dunphy. He was a smart man and a nice and a welcoming man and obviously quite a businessman. But he did have a tendency on the air to become, in his own words, a teleprompter. Reading machine. He said, you put it up there, and I'm going to say it down here. And that's what this story is about. When I got to Los Angeles at the age of 26 in 1985, our newscast, Channel 5 News at 10, was like something out of the 1960s. The studio had carpeting on the walls. There were no graphics to speak of, just a big rear screen projection device. Our best reporter, the lovely Stan Chambers, had literally worked there since the station had signed on the air for the first time 38 years before. And he would keep working there for another 25 years. Our inimitable anchorman, Hal Fishman, would not wear an ifb, an earpiece, because he thought viewers might think that if he did, it was because he needed a hearing aid. He did, however, wear one of a series of toupees of different length to simulate the need for a haircut. Until the first commercial break was over. On News at 10, only Hal spoke. His female co anchor just sat there adoringly. And the producer was a marvelously frantic character named Jerry Rubin, who, every night at 9pm an hour to airtime, would run around the newsroom screaming, battle stations. Battle stations. And who took me seriously only when I could figure out what his, as Jerry phrased it, invisible thread was running through his nightly ordering of the stories. The rundown. He would ask me to come into the newsroom and look at the rundown and say, all right, Olverman, you're so smart. What's the invisible thread? And he only began to like me when I could recite to him from memory the starting lineup of his beloved 1945 Chicago Cubs. But he stayed liking me. We remained friends for 30 years. Anyway, Jerry had come to Los Angeles in 1969, hired away from WGN in Chicago to become the lead writer for this is where the story comes together. You guessed it. The Jerry Dunphy newscasts on KNX T, the CBS station in Los Angeles. In fact, after winning every sweeps period for nine years, the newscast had rightly become the big news with Jerry Dunphy. And it began with an unseen announcer intoning, the big news with Jerry Dunphy. Now here is Jerry Dunphy. And then Jerry Dunphy said his catchphrase. The catchphrase of all catchphrases.

[Jon Favreau]

Unlike the guy I worked with in

[Keith Olbermann]

New York when I was an intern, Bill Jorgensen. Thank you for your time this time. Till next time, Jerry Dunphy said. From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California, good evening. Nonsense, of course, but, boy, it sounded good. From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California, Good evening. He said this so often that it is still used in some promotional announcements by Channel 9 News in Los Angeles

[Jon Favreau]

and Channel 7 News in Los Angeles

[Keith Olbermann]

and Channel 2 in Los Angeles. From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California, Good evening. I'm dead. Well, no, they don't actually say that, but that's pretty much what it means. The only joke about the night he got shot outside the parking lot that I can tell is that when the cops arrived, Dunphy said to them, from the desert to the sea to all of Southern California, good evening. I've been shot in the neck. The first night, my friend Jerry Rubin sat down to write the big news with Jerry Dunphy. Jerry Rubin was a little nervous.

[Jon Favreau]

He got there early.

[Keith Olbermann]

He said he wrote some stories a dozen times each, trying to get it perfect finally for the lead story, which, if memory serves, was about a bank robbery in Pasadena. Jerry got it just right. And on that 1969 evening at 6:00pm viewers of the Big News on Channel 2 in Los Angeles, those for whom from the desert to the sea to all of Southern California was not a cliche but mantra, they heard the familiar Channel two screeching theme music. And then the Big news with Jerry Dunphy. Now here is Jerry Dunphy. And up popped Jerry Dunphy's face. And he said, three armed and very dangerous modern day desperados are still loose in Pasadena tonight after blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The newscast ended an hour later. Jerry Rubin was very relieved. Jerry Dunphy strode back to his desk before presumably going out to warm up the Rolls Royce and avoid the gunmen who would finally get him 14 years later and not even slow him down. And that's when the station's news director leaned out of his office and waved the two Jerrys inside. What the hell happened, Dunphy? Did you retire it? You can't retire it. It's in the contract. You have to stay it. According to Jerry Rubin. Dunphy looked blankly at his boss. Jerry Rubin said he was even more confused himself. From the desert to the sea. You didn't say from the desert to the sea at the start of the big news. You say from the desert to the sea to all of Southern California.

[Jon Favreau]

Good evening.

[Keith Olbermann]

Good evening. Only tonight you didn't say from the desert to the sea to all of Southern California. Good evening. You said something about a bank. What the hell, Jerry?

[Jon Favreau]

We got 250 phone calls.

[Keith Olbermann]

Jerry Dunphy now pursed his lips and turned to the new writer. What the hell, Reuben? Didn't you put it in the script. Jerry Rubin kept this part to himself, but frankly, he said he couldn't believe what he was hearing. For nine years, this man Dunphy had signed on virtually every one of his news broadcasts every night at 6 and then again every night, night at 11 by saying, from the desert to the sea to all of Southern California. Good evening. But apparently if you did not write it in the script and did not put it on the teleprompter for him, he would forget it. Before Jerry Rubin could say anything, Jerry Dunphy barked at him with some understanding. Don't you understand when I'm out there, I'm a teleprompter reading machine. You put it up there, I'm going to say it down here. You don't put it up there, I'm not going to say it down here. The news director looked sternly at Jerry Rubin. Jerry Rubin did not burst into uncontrollable laughter. Race from the building KNXT was in on Sunset Boulevard and get on the first plane back to Chicago. He just said, yes, sir. And the news director said, good. And everybody left. And from that night at 11 o' clock onwards, Jerry Rubin always started his script for the lead story by typing out. From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California. Good evening. There's a 26 car pileup on the Santa Monica Freeway after another mattress has been dumped in the left lane. Or from the desert to the sea to all of Southern California. Good evening. Burbank bank burgled or whatever. Over the next few weeks, the lead story on the big news with Jerry Dunphy would change, as lead stories do. At 5pm or 5:30 or 5:50, something big er would happen. And it was the big news. So Jerry Rubin would often have to rewrite page one of the script. Every time he rewrote it and every time he re rewrote it. And the one time he told me that he re re rewrote it, Jerry remembered to start page one with from the desert to the sea to all Southern California. Good evening. All was well. The teleprompter reading machine was happy. The news director was happy. Jerry Rubin was happy. And then calamity struck. At about 5:58 one night, Jerry Rubin was told there is a refinery fire in Torrance. It is the new lead story. Just say we're rushing a crew. Get it written. He started to type our top story. Breaking news, a refinery. And then he tore the page from his machine. He started anew. His fingers danced across the keyboard. From the desert to the sea. To all of Southern California, Good evening. Our top story tonight, breaking news. A refinery fire area has just erupted in Torrents. A Channel 2 Big News Live crew is rushing to the scene at this hour. And we will have a big news live report from Rick Davis before this newscast is over. Ruben knew he did not have time to get a production assistant to take the new lead script into Dunphy, nor to tape it into the script about to pass through the teleprompter. So he did both things himself. New lead. He screamed at Dunphy, throwing the page at him. And the unseen announcer was already admitted introduction when Jerry Rubin taped that new piece of script into the prompter without remembering to remove the old lead script from the prompter. And this is what Los Angeles heard. The big news with Jerry Dunphy. Now here is Jerry Dunphy. From the desert to the sea. To all of Southern California, good evening. Our top story tonight, breaking news. A refinery fire has just erupted in Torrents at Channel 2 Big News Live crew is rushing to the scene at this hour. And we will have a big news live report from Rick Davis before this newscast is over. Jerry Dunphy dramatically turned over page one and began to read page two. From the desert to the sea. To all of Southern California. Good evening. Our top story tonight, Mayor Sam Yorthe said. Jerry Rubin said, my head dropped to my desk with a thud. From the desert to the sea. How I only wish he had once said, from the desert to the sea. Ah, the late Jerry Dunphy, a legend to all who saw him. They said, don't move, and I didn't, and they shot me anyway. I've done all the damage I can do here. Why didn't he use that as the sign off? Error after. That's Channel 7 Eyewitness News for this Tuesday night. I'm Jerry Dunphrey reminding you. They told me not to move and I didn't and they shot me anyway. Have a good night. Done all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening, Pocket Squares. Our musical directors of Countdown are John Philip Chenale on keyboards and handling the orchestration, and Brian Ray on guitars, bass and drums. And their work is produced by TKO Brothers. Nancy Foust, the best baseball stadium organist ever, is responsible for the satirical and pithy musical comments. The sports music is from the old Olbermann show. The theme run on ESPN2 and written by Mitch Warren Davis, courtesy of ESPN Inc. Other music arranged and performed by the group no horns allowed. And my announcer today was my late friend George Carter. The program was produced by Ted Everything else was, as always, my fault. That's Countdown for today, day 445 of America held hostage again, just 1,018 days until the scheduled end of his lame duck and lame brained term, unless he is removed sooner by Epstein and the Strait of Hormuz and Tacos. The next scheduled count is on his Monday bulletins, as the news merits. Until the next one, I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck.

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