WHEN DO WE START BOMBING RUSSIANS WHO ARE KILLING CHRISTIANS IN UKRAINE? - 12.29.25

Summary

Podcast Summary

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Episode: WHEN DO WE START BOMBING RUSSIANS WHO ARE KILLING CHRISTIANS IN UKRAINE?
Date: December 29, 2025
Host: Keith Olbermann (iHeartPodcasts)

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Overview of the Episode’s Main Theme

This episode centers on Keith Olbermann’s sharp critique of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, specifically the justification of military intervention in the name of protecting Christians abroad. Olbermann provocatively asks why, following the administration’s military actions against ISIS in Nigeria (under the pretext of defending Christians), Trump isn’t applying the same logic to Russia, which he claims is responsible for killing Christians in Ukraine. The episode blends political analysis, satirical takes on recent Trump-related absurdities, discussions of corruption and pardons, Olbermann’s classic “Worst Persons in the World,” and a retrospective Ted Turner story.

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Detailed Breakdown of Key Discussion Points

1. Trump’s “Protecting Christians” Doctrine (03:07—12:02)

• Olbermann opens by highlighting Trump’s recently stated foreign policy principle: military intervention against groups targeting Christians, referencing U.S. bombing in Nigeria.
• Calls out hypocrisy: Trump met with President Zelensky the day before but made no such tough talk or action against Russia, which is responsible for deaths of Christians in Ukraine.
• “If that is the standard, Trump has obligated himself to start bombing Russians today. Get going boy. Because the percentage of Christians in Ukraine is 85%. 85. That’s more than in Ireland. That’s way more than here.” (06:16)
• Satirical summary of Trump’s selective standards, accusing him of making decisions based solely on self-interest and foreign blackmail rather than principle.
• Contextualizes Russian religious policies: religion in Russia controlled by the Kremlin, with the Russian Orthodox Church holding monopoly-like power; contrasts this to Ukraine’s 85% Christian population.

2. Zelensky’s Response and Historical Republican Rhetoric (11:20—13:45)

• Zelensky’s messaging: Posts a video labeling Russians as “godless”—a stance that aligns with the GOP’s Cold War-era rhetoric painting Russians as atheist persecutors of the faithful.
• Olbermann notes the irony: “This bullshit didn’t start with Trump. He just dumbed it down to make it more effective with the rubes and the marks.”
• Suggests that pro-Ukraine strategists could exploit the White House’s current “save the Christians” narrative to split the MAGA base.

3. Corruption, Pardons, and Giuliani (15:50—25:24)

• In-depth examination of recent allegations that Trump’s presidential pardons were for sale, using details from the Noel Dunphy lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani.
• Reads lurid and disturbing suit excerpts chronicling Giuliani’s alleged behavior, including selling pardons for $2 million each (split with Trump and Giuliani).
• Notable quote: “He [Giuliani] told Ms. Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, so long as they did not go through the normal channels of the Office

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[B]

Guaranteed Human. 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 decluttering is everything.

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It clears your space, your mind, and it can give you shopping power. With Trashy Just buy a trashy bag, fill it with clothes and shoes you no longer need, then ship it free and earn points instantly. Build your points by shopping exclusive trashy offers and redeem for gift cards to brands you love or donate them to charity. It's time to make some for what's next. Start decluttering today at Trashy IO that's T R A S H I E I O 10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract worth $250,000.

[B]

This is where mindset comes in.

[A]

Someone will be eliminated.

[B]

Pressure is coming, coming down.

[C]

Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8th.

[B]

Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[A]

Of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball Season 2, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5 on TNT, TruTV and HBO.

[C]

Max support for the show comes from 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 efts 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 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 investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures of [e-mail] Disclosures Countdown with.

[B]

Keith Olbermann is a production of iHeartRadio. Why isn't Trump bombing Russian terrorist scum who have been targeting and viciously killing innocent Christians in Ukraine now that our white supremacist theocratic bandit government has gone into the Crusades business? Now that, per Trump, we've been bombing Nigeria to kill ISIS terrorist scum who have been targeting and viciously killing primarily innocent Christians. This question for MAGA and the Republicans who continue to enable this dictatorship. Like Marco, things go better with Coke, Rubio, if that's the new standard. We are bombing ISIS terrorist scum who have been targeting and viciously killing innocent Christians in Nigeria. After your latest pointless photo op meeting with Zelensky in Florida yesterday, Trump, why aren't you also bombing Russian terrorist scum who have been targeting and viciously killing primarily innocent Christians in Ukraine? How committed are you to this protect the Christians bullshit, Trump? Don't get me wrong, I do not buy into any of the organized religious corporations. Many do good things sometimes. Many sincere people work with and for them and believe in them. But if it's spirituality you're looking for, just talk to your creator or your universe or whoever you feel you need to talk to and do it directly. Cut out the middleman. Avoid the brand names. But this isn't about beliefs. Believe what you want. What the hell do I care? This is about the newest Trumpian excuse. We are now killing those who are killing Christians. If that is the standard, Trump has obligated himself to start bombing Russians today. Get going boy. Because the percentage of Christians in Ukraine is 85%. 85. That's more than in Ireland. That's way more than here. We may be as low as 65%. And religion in Russia is a function of the state. It is controlled by Putin. The Russian Orthodox Church is Russia's privileged religion and it holds virtual veto power over which other religions can have any influence. It's almost a monopoly. So in Russia, sorry, Catholics, sorry, many Protestant faiths. I mean, I know after yesterday's latest pointless meeting with poor Zelensky in Florida. And you have to give him credit, he's playing along with this man he knows is an insane idiot. This latest meeting that started 72 minutes after Trump got off the phone with Putin. And presumably Putin read Trump his latest instructions, starting with the words keep stalling Donald. After that negotiation to nowhere round 11 billion. This new standard in Nigeria and in South Africa, that's not going to be the new standard in Ukraine because Trump has no standards. He only has financial interests and being blackmailed interests. Trump is the asshole who campaigned on resolving Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 24 hours. A 24 hour deadline. And yesterday as he stood next to Zelensky, he was asked about more deadlines. And Trump basically answered deadlines. What are deadlines? I don't have deadlines. I have, you know what my deadline is? Getting the war ended. We don't have deadlines. Do you agree with that? Since he reseized power, Trump has been remarkably consistent. He is stalling. He talks about two weeks to this and 50 days to that and warning Russia about this and helping Ukraine with that, and, and each individual announcement seems like some sort of bizarre 180 switch. The media certainly treats it like that. When in fact, if you just step back only a couple of feet and take this as a whole, it's just one long running out of the clock on Putin's behalf. Just throw something else against the wall. We know Trump's good at that. Usually it's a burger with ketchup, but this idea that America now exists to save those Christians, the world out there, it's like lions at the Coliseum. If this is handled right, this could interrupt the endless cycle of Trump announcing another new policy and the rest of the world thinking, oh, this will be resolved soon. Because if this onward Christian soldiers thing is the deciding factor now, save the South African Boers, save the Nigerian Christians. Even though the Nigerian government says nearly everybody under attack there is Muslim. This is Trump's great cause. Trump kinda, kinda has to arrest any Russian diplomats or negotiators or envoys at the next quote, peace unquote stall conference. Or if they're on a boat, he has to bomb them and he has to cut Putin off and he has to load up them bombing runs. We have anti Christian terrorists scum to kill in Russia and faithful suffering martyred Christians in Ukraine. Isn't that the same thing? Spoiler alert. It's not the same thing. Trump's not going to do that. Not unless he's backed into one hell of a corner Christianity to Donald Trump. Is exactly the same thing as Judaism, which is exactly the same thing as fundamentalists and Pentecostals and. And Druids. It's a voting bloc. It's a bunch of people he can save time by scamming all at once rather than individually. What's interesting is that the morning after Trump celebrated the holiday by killing people who were killing Christians on Christmas because he's a Nobel Peace Prize winner in everything but, you know, the peace part. The morning after President Zelensky of 85% Christian Ukraine posted a video which noted Russians are godless people who have nothing in common with Christianity. Maybe Zelensky sees there is a route to get to Trump and force him to act on behalf of his latest fanboys. Of course, what Zelenskyy said. Russians are godless people who have nothing in common with Christianity. That used to be the official line of the Republican Party. Russia's suppression of Christianity and its persecution of the faithful used to be a primary campaign tool in this country. Russia's official atheism used to be something the Republicans used against the Democrats. Because this bullshit didn't start with Trump. He just dumbed it down to make it more effective with the rubes and the marks. As late as the breakup of the Soviet Union, those people were the godless Russians. So maybe there is something here which supporters of Ukraine, and more cynically, those of us who recognize that all Putin and Trump are doing with these perpetually moving goalposts about a peace plan or negotiations or summits is to stall, to give Putin more time to resupply his troops. And those of us who recognize that if Putin wins in Ukraine, he will attack again even further west in Europe. And those of us who recognize that when first Trump and then this buffoon Rubio say, it's not our war, there's an ocean between us. The usefulness of an ocean as defense was disproved on December 7, 1941. But apparently both Trump and Rubio are too stupid or too impaired to realize that you can now fly across any ocean. Those of us who understand all of that, those of us who understand that America's future depends on Russia losing everything in Ukraine and then Putin losing control of Russia, maybe we finally have something with which to split MAGA the way the Epstein files. How many in that box? A million. Holy crap. In the same way the Epstein files and anti Semitism have now split maga, so strategically, supporters of Ukraine need to start lying. Stop portraying the Ukrainians as victims of Putin's aggression. MAGA likes aggression. I mean, MAGA are sadists. Start portraying the Ukrainians as victims of terrorist scum who have been targeting and viciously killing primarily innocent Christians, because the terrorist scum is Putin. Wait. Trump pardons for sale. Millions changing hands. Finder's fees, Pardon brokers. Con men like Trevor Milton not only not rotting in prison, but also not being forced to pay restitution of up to 680 million to those he defrauded. It's hard to be shocked by anything, hard to find anything both corrupt and new about Trump. And then here comes the Trump pardon industrial complex. So new and so. Wait a minute, I knew this sounded familiar. Of course, Trump presidential pardons were allegedly available for purchase at popular prices, and there's nothing new about it. They were reportedly available as of February 16, 2019, supposedly at $2 million each. Half to Trump, half to Rudy Giuliani. I reported this on this podcast on May 16, 2023, because those pardons at those prices is what a woman who sued Giuliani for sexual abuse says Giuliani told her. In just a nine day span in 2019, she claimed she's had countless recordings of their encounters. Name was Noel Dunphy. And I don't know if she recorded any of this stuff and I don't know if she's telling the truth. And I have even less of an idea of whether or not he was telling the truth. The alleged victim, Noel Dunphy. And not for a moment do I want to seem insensitive to her and the two year ordeal she documented in her nauseating and lurid suit against him. I mean, it reads like the script from a Fellini film, something between Casanova and Satyricon. It is, in fact, so disturbing and so lurid that it is not until the 124th numbered paragraph in her 70 page filing that her attorney gets to the other little detail, the other little foretaste of evil things to come. Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy about a plan that had been prepared for if Trump lost the 2020 election. Specifically, Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy that Trump's team would, that there was, quote, voter fraud and that Trump had actually won the election. This plan was discussed at several business meetings with Giuliani and Lev Parnas. But back to the bribes, back to the pardons. It was eight paragraphs and nine days after that that Dunphy's attorney claims Giuliani, quote, also asked Ms. Dunphy if she knew anyone in need of a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split. He told Ms. Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, him being Giuliani, so long as they did not go through the normal channels of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence going to that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. For Ms. Dunphy, this was understandably, utterly, justifiably a case about how she claims. I think from reading it, the better word is how she demonstrates how Giuliani manipulated her into sex, bullied her, abused her, committed battery on her, as she alleges. Her suit was remarkably detailed. Dates, places, names, hate filled Giuliani rants about blacks, about Jews, about other groups. All of it reeking with the kind of verisimilitude that anybody who has been around Rudy Giuliani for more than 30 minutes out of the last 30 years would say, yeah, that's Rudy. Like everything else touching Rudy Giuliani, a walking pile of corruption, wearing mascara to cover the bald spots. This lawsuit got shoved off the front pages by something worse that happened like the next day. The most recent update I can get on this suit is from May of this year in which Giuliani had filed to get the Dunphy lawsuit dismissed. After that, nothing. Sadly, what Shakespeare wrote of as the law's delay and he wrote it 400 plus years ago, has never improved in the slightest. Ask Jack Smith. I will leave most of the conduct Ms. Dunphy's attorneys describe in the gutter with Rudy where they belong. Except for paragraph 109, which is as familiar to those of us who've had the misfortune to meet this sleazebag Giuliani as any of the abuses alleged or the women manipulated or the debts left unpaid. His driving emotion for the length of his public life has been envy mixed with usually futile fantasies of revenge. Paragraph 109, quote, throughout the employment and attorney client relationship, Giuliani forced Ms. Dunfee to perform oral sex on him. He often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on speakerphone from high profile friends and clients, including then President Trump. Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy that he enjoyed engaging in this conduct while on the telephone because it made him, quote, feel like Bill Clinton. Just the sleaziest, almost human alive Rudy Giuliani. And in a final note from the Dunphy lawsuit, fueled by what she portrays as almost non stop consumption by Giuliani of alcohol and Viagra, I have this question. Red pill or blue pill? Rudy? The references to Rudy Giuliani's perversions in a story about the Trump bribery and pardon machine is just to add some color to the process and some context. This did not start last month, although from news coverage you would think it had. I will note also that since every Republican accusation is a confession, the idea of invalid pardons by Joe Biden would suggest Trump knows that if anything could ever defeat the seemingly constitutionally built impregnable wall around presidential pardons, it would be proven bribery. Because even if this most directive crimes could not cancel out a pardon, the bribe that led to the pardon would itself be a new crime. A new crime by the pardon recipient and the pardon broker and the bribe recipient pardon giver. In the current scenario, that would figure to be Trump himself. I know that, you know that, I know that, I know that, and I'm hoping that the potential Democratic attorneys general and U.S. attorneys of 2029 know that. However, I do find myself still wondering if the bribe brokers know that Rudy. Since this podcast launched 1st August 2022, I have kept only one light of hope perpetually lit. It is the only durable truth that works 100% in favor of the forces of decency, democracy, truth, justice and the American way. It is the fact that Trump and his family and his enablers and his henchmen and his Giuliani's and his Renfields and his media and his MAGA are 99.9% morons. There are a few bright and therefore truly dangerous guys and gals out there like Russ Vogt and maybe Scalia and every once in a while it seems like Stephen Miller is one of them. But I dunno, I think this guy has self destruct button written all over him. Also, usually even in the ones that seem smart or at least seem non moronic, some push meets some shove somewhere and it turns out they're only intermittently not stupid. Right? Susie Wiles so here are your latest MAGA stupidity updates. The Trump Kennedy center. The one he renamed and made it sound like it's the Trump Memorial Center. For our purposes, let's call it the Trump Memorial Kennedy Center. Turns out Trump forgot something. He forgot to buy the website domains trump kennedycenter.org Go on. Trump kennedycenter.com Go on. They belong to Toby Morton. Who is Toby Morton. He is a comedy writer whose credits include south park. Lol. It is probably not Trump's job to register those domains. It's probably the job of the President of the center. That would be the most haplessly arrogant of all the Trump whores. Rick Grenell who has already washed out of the following posts in the Trump, Acting Director of National Intelligence, Ambassador to Germany, envoy to Serbia and Kosovo, Big Lie Salesman, California Wildfire Liaison, Special Envoy to Venezuela, special envoy to free the infamous Tate Monsters in Romania, Rebuild the Nordstream, Coordinator, Special Presidential Envoy, Special Missions, and most recently, Interim President of the Trump Memorial Kennedy center for the Performing Arts. And Rick forgot to register Trump Kennedy center domains. That is so many jobs. Grinnell has failed at that. It's more jobs than I've had. It's like twice as many jobs as I've had. Now he says the center will sue a jazz musician who refused to perform on Christmas Eve. Chuck Red. Chuck Red plays the drums and the vibraphone, and he said he wouldn't if Trump's name was on the building. So Rick Grinnell says he's suing Mr. Red for a million dollars because refusing to play for the Fuhrer is, quote, classic intolerance and very costly to a nonprofit arts institution. Yeah, Rick, really costly. When Trump says he wants to rip out all the seats at the Trump Memorial Kennedy center and replace them with new ones that have marble armrests because everybody wants to bang their elbows on marble. And of course, marble is so cheap. You guys must be right there at the bankruptcy line, huh? But the real Grinnell stupidity here is that, quote, classic intolerance. Classic intolerance, you say? Because the guy won't play at the behest of the dictatorship. Last September, Grenell invited a group of Log Cabin Republicans. That's the group of gay conservatives who have convinced themselves that Trump's hate mongers would never put them in camps. Grinnell invited a group of Log Cabin Republicans to interrupt the performance of anti Trump, anti Grinnell guitarist Yasmin Williams at the Trump Memorial Kennedy Center. So, bub, take your lawsuit and your complaints about classic intolerance and shove them. Also, you are suing a jazz musician for a million dollars. There's a jazz musician who has a million doll. My great sustaining hope that the Trumpists will soon collapse under the weight of their own stupidity was also reinforced the other day by, of all people, Bryan Krasenstein. I don't have much use for the Krassenstein brothers. They are clout farmers. They're not that bright. They probably do not hurt the resistance materially, but they certainly don't help it. But Brian has accomplished one of the greatest trollings of the Trump era. Quote, he wrote, quote, trump is a dead man walking. Krassenstein posted that on Twitter X again, quoting, america should, quote, put him to sleep now. It is the humanitarian thing to do. Oh, the glass half empty IQ boys of Magistan did not like that one bit. There was universal rage. Is this the threat? Asked Gunter Eagleman, TM real name David Freeman, defrocked cop with granny glasses. Why the hell would you poke something like this? Are you ill? Replied Kyle Weepy Kyle Rittenhouse, possible new Ozempic spokesperson. Others demanded Krassenstein's arrest or retweeted what he posted addressed to Cash Patel, care of the Grand Old Opry. I guess there were responses all across the MAGA spectrum, from your crazies to your crazy Russian bots. Wall Street Apes was furious. Zeke Arkham, Buzz Patterson, Dom Lucre, real spitfire Benny Johnson. All of them enraged because Krassenstein had posted a clear incitement to violence or a clear threat to Trump or a clear call for assassination. Or by writing, quote, trump is a dead man walking. America should, quote, put him to sleep, unquote. Now it is the humanitarian thing to do, unquote. Ahem. Not one of these morons seemed to have noticed that Krassenstein was in fact quoting someone else word for word. Someone who had written that Stephen Colbert is, quote, a dead man walking. CBS should, quote, put him to sleep, unquote. Now it is the humanitarian thing to do. Who wrote that? Well, of course, like you didn't know it was Trump. And Krassenstein simply quoted him word for word. And the Trump crowd hanging on his every word missed those words of Trump and crashed right through the windshield when even somebody like Krassenstein simply hit the brakes. And two final Trump stupidity notes. Erica Kirk appeared on Fox News yesterday. Again, honestly, if she had her own show, she would not be on this often. And she was not wearing the sequined floor length morning dress she wore at a recent conservative conference because of course she's grieving her late husband just like you would by going on Fox News every day. Except the day that she went and did a town hall with that idiot Bari Weiss at cbs. Big Sister is watching you and wearing a series of sequined dresses while she tries to become a household name, literally over her late husband's dead body. But remember, she and her family request privacy at this time. And then there's Stephen Miller and his wife. It only crossed my desk the other day that the originator of the rather stomach turning description of the hairless Goebbels as a sexual matador was not the almost panoramically stupid Jesse Waters of Fox. That was not his phrase. Instead, the phrase sexual Matador came from Miller's own wife, Katie. And once again, nobody's explaining what that's supposed to mean. Sexual matador like Stephen Miller wears a form fitting gold outfit like some sort of nightmarish bellhop. And he goes out in public in Mexico and Spain and engages with another mammal who weighs around 2,000 pounds. And Stephen Miller encourages them to charge at him that kind of sexual matador. Anyway, Katie Miller started the reference, but the part I also don't get here is that evidently Stephen Miller likes this term. And the part I don't get about that is Miller has lately dropped the pretext that his hatred is about just undocumented immigrants. And, and it's pretty clear now he's no longer even trying to pretend that his hatred is anything more or less than hatred of people of col, especially of Hispanic origin. So Stephen Miller hates Mexicans, but he wants to be a matador, A Spanish speaking sexual matador. So what does that imply? Every once in a while Stephen Miller shouts Olay. And then gets gored in the groin. Also of interest here, that rarest of confluences where Trump, Trump, the actual worst person in the world 24 7, wins recognition as our worst person in the world. He is suing again for damages, but the attorneys for 20 of the defendants in this case have finally struck gold. Their demand for discovery from Trump, stuff he has to produce to continue in the lawsuit. If we damaged you financially or emotionally, we have to know how much. So you Trump, you have to give us the before, you have to give us your financial records and your health records and your mental health records. Now, 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 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 decluttering is everything.

[A]

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[B]

This is where mindset comes in.

[A]

Someone will be eliminated.

[B]

Pressure is coming down.

[C]

Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8th.

[B]

Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[A]

Of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy tips off January 5th on TNT, TruTV and HBO.

[C]

Max support for the show comes from 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 EFTs 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 S I 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 investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures [e-mail] disclosures.

[B]

Oops. That's next. This is Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Still ahead on this edition of countdown. What did you get for Christmas? I got a baseball cap. I got a baseball cap from Ted Turner. Of course I'm talking about Christmas 1982, but you'll remember I didn't ask you what did you get for Christmas this year? The story of Ted Turner, my first TV job. How it almost was my last TV job because I almost had a fight with him. And the CNN sports baseball caps next in things I promised not to tell first. Believe it or not, there's still 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. LeBron's worse. Just a rando on Twitter. But in the world championships of self unawareness, the new title holder, Ed Edgerunner 737. By the way, what makes you go online under an alias? How cowardly are you to not use your name online unless you're in a witness protection program or there's a self defense reason and a good one or you're a performance artist or a satirist. I digress. Edgerunner737 is none of those. Edgerunner737 Is just mad at the poop. Pope Leo, you know, Leo, the SportsCenter fan from the 90s because Pope Leo defended migrants without papers. You know, like that Jesus guy. Not an uncommon position, not a smart one, but not uncommon. But the insult that edgerunner737 threw at Leo is, like I said, world championship grade, I quote. It would be interesting to see how this holier than thou man behaved at thousands of illegals in Italy, bum rushed VAT city and refused to leave the square. Look, whenever you think of popes and churches and all that stuff, I mean, I already went into my attitude here before the break, but my goodness, holier than thou. It's in his job description. He's supposed to be holier than thou. You called him holier than thou. Ed, if you went up to the Pope and you said, hey, you're holier than thou, he would be entitled to answer. Hey, thanks. Holier than thou. Holy crap. The runner up worser James trustee. This is how terrified Trump and his enablers remain of Jack Smith and especially of the second half of Jack Smith's final report on Trump's crime that Smith is suing to get released publicly. You think the Epstein files are bad? Hey, what's in that box looks like another million Epstein documents. Well, what's in that box behind it then? Anyway, they are still trying to smear Jack Smith and his prosecution of Trump, but they are running out of people to take this position publicly. It can't always be Eileen Cannon and just Eileen Cannon. And the fact that they're running out of people to take this position might give you a clue about the seriousness of what is in part two of the Jack Smith Report. James Trustee has written an article for the Wall Street Journal about Smith's prosecution of Trump and the Mar? A Lago search, and it's being sold this. In 27 years as a prosecutor, I have never seen a case with so many irregularities, with such manifestations, political motivation, with so many open questions about singular treatment and poor judgment, writes Jim Trustee James to his friends. Firstly, James Trustee named by parents who had a brilliant sense of irony. Secondly, everything online about this guy that he's ever written begins with in 27 years as a prosecutor, or after 27 years as a prosecutor, or in my 27 years as a prosecutor. It's like, after 27 years as a prosecutor, I really have to go to the bathroom. Can you tell me where it is? I mean, everything is how many years you've done this. Thirdly, not mentioned in the cell for the Wall Street Journal article attacking Jack Smith defending Trump. Trump's first attorney after the Mar? A Lago search was, you guessed it, James Trustee. And then he was on the job only a couple days and suddenly he quit. Another clue as to how desperate they are. They are down to the lawyer who quit representing Trump in the case he's now attacking. But the winner, the worst, making a rare appearance here. Since this is technically about everybody in the world except him, Trump himself, he has hoisted himself on his own petard. You know how he sued the Pulitzer Prize board? He sued the Pulitzer people claiming that because the board gave out awards to journalists who covered Trump's connections to illegal Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election and then refused to revoke those awards, he claimed that defamed him, damaged him financially, caused him emotional distress, all that stuff. You know how they say, don't sue unless you're prepared for discovery? This is what they mean by that. In response to the Pulitzer suit, two law firms have now filed joint discovery claims against Trump on behalf of 20 defendants. So there's 20 defendants paying these two law firms and they are getting their flipping money's worth. He was financially and psychologically damaged by the Pulitzer board. Okay, let's assume he's right about that. Prove how much you were damaged. Give us the before and after. Don the lawyers want. The defense lawyers want, as part of discovery all of Trump's tax returns, quote, from all jurisdictions, including all attachments, schedules and worksheets dating from 2015 to today, and all other documents sufficient to show all sources of your income, sufficient to show all of your financial holdings and his liabilities. Because how are they going to tell how much he was damaged financially if they don't know how much he had before and how much after? But wait, there's more. The psychological and physical part of damages. To the extent you seek damages for any physical ailment or mental or emotional injury arising from counts one to four of your complaint, all documents, whether held by you or by third parties under your control or who could produce them at your direction concerning your medical and or psychological health from January 1, 2015 to present, including any prescription medications, any prescription medications you have been prescribed or have taken. You want them alphabetized or in numerical order by lot number for the avoidance of doubt. This includes all documents concerning your annual physical examination. For the record, the law firms involved are Ballard, Spahr and Atherton, Gaillardi, Mullen and Reader, and I don't know anybody at any of those firms, but I'll endorse them right here. And the defendants, they get gold stars, too. And they are the Andrew W. Mellon foundation president Elizabeth Alexander, Anne Applebaum of the Atlantic Boston Globe longtime editor Nancy Barnes, former president of Columbia Lee Bollinger, author and journalist Kathryn Boo Neil Brown, president of the Poynter Institute the former editor in chief of USA Today Nicole Carroll, former Columbia journalism dean Steve Cole Gail Collins of the New York Times, vice president, editor at large of standards at the Associated Press John Daniszewski, editor VP at the Philadelphia Inky Gabriel Escobar, UCLA historian Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez, longtime Pulitzer Prize deputy administrator Edward Kliment, New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada, former LA Times executive editor Kevin Morita, Pulitzer Prize Administrator Marjorie Miller, USC Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen, CEO and co founder of the 19 Emily Ramshaw, New Yorker editor David Remnick and Harvard University philosophy professor Tommy Shelby, sponsored by the Chubb Foundation. And they all want Trump's medical and financial records and his health records and his mental health records in discovery. And I hope the BBC and anybody else, he's facing a lawsuit or is facing a lawsuit from him. Sues using this as their template. Demand and then publicly release your demand for discovery on all his financial records, all his health records all his mental health records, all his drug records. This is outstanding. So Trump suing for defamation and damages, but winding up getting all his own financial and health and drug and mental health records thrown in the discovery pile. Because if you're financially or psychologically damaged, you gotta show it. Or if you're emotionally damaged, you gotta show that to today's worst person in the world. Sam. I never play the end of it. I just love the end of it. Things I promise not to tell in Ted Turner Next 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 you might be shocked at what you find. Mypolicyadvocate.com cleaning out your home is everything.

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[B]

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[B]

Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[A]

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[C]

Max support for the show comes from 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 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 EFTs 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 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 investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.

[B]

And now here is a post Christmas what did you get for Christmas edition of Things I Promised not to Tell and we take you back a scant 43 Christmases ago. I have one more story to tell you about covering the 1982 National Football League players strike. And this is less about the strike itself and more about the man for whom I covered it. Ted Turner. Ted Turner had put CNN on the air just two years earlier and his sports guy Bill McPhail had interviewed me for a job as their New York sports reporter even earlier than that, May of 1980. And when I did not get it, I was genuinely relieved because I was convinced there was no way they would ever get CNN on the air. No chance. Ever. Obviously I did not account for Ted Turner's stubbornness. Anyway, I wound up going there freelance in 1981. As I have related in some detail here, when Lou Dobbs and his Girlfriend, the New York sports reporter had to get out of town fast at the existence of Mrs. Lou Dobbs. Eight months later, as the 1982 NFL strike loomed, they had made me staff and given me a contract first, offering me a thousand dollars less a year than they were paying me freelance. Even CNN of 1982 acknowledged the absurdity of that mathematical proposition. So I was vested, already whining about Ted Turner, employee of CNN, when the football players walked out on strike in September 1982. And that strike was my beat every day from March to November. A day or so after the strike began, we set up an interview with the president of CBS Sports, Neil Pilsen, about the effect that the strike would have on TV sports in general and CBS Sports in particular. And as the camera crew and I filed into his office, Pilsen wearily said, nothing against you guys, but I've done so many interviews already about this strike that if you actually come up with a question I haven't been asked already, I'll give you. Well, we all leaned in towards him. Give us what? A job? A job interview. At least $50. I'll give you CBS Sports caps. Nah, not exactly a job, but better than nothing. So we rolled tape, and I said, so, Mr. Pilsen, in light of the strike, do you wish CBS Sports did not have the super bowl this year as it does? And he laughed, and he took off his mic and he went over to his office phone and he buzzed his assistant, bring in three caps, will you? And he sat back down, he said, you guys did it. Nobody asked me that yet. And it's like the only question that really interests me. You still rolling? Neil Pilsen then proceeded to give a lengthy and thoughtful answer about how as long as the season was not canceled, it was probably better to have the next super bowl, because people would be so grateful that after the strike, they wound up playing it anyway. So now a week goes by after that interview, and the bargaining sessions between the players and the owners are taking place in a Manhattan hotel, the lows on Lexington Avenue, a dump with a nice lobby. All that matters to me is the Lowe's with the dump. And the nice lobby is literally three blocks from my apartment. The players and the owners just march through a long hallway into private rooms. That's all we see of them. It is not heavy lifting. There are nice seats, at least in that lobby. But it is enlivened one day by news that our boss, Ted Turner, has asked the union if he can come in and meet with their 20 odd player negotiating team because he wants to pitch them on something. He was in fact due there yesterday but was unavoidably detained. The rumor the players told me never confirmed, was that while changing planes in Chicago, Turner and an air hostess had ensconced themselves in a dumpster, or the other version was in a janitor's closet for 12 hours of whoopee. And that's why he was a day late. Anyway, I walk into the Lowe's that morning and if somehow I had not been able to recognize my camera crew, sure enough, it is the same two guys who had been with me at Neil Pilsen's office at CBS when I asked him the question he had not been asked before, earning us free CBS Sports captain and the cameraman and the deck operator are of course wearing their CBS Sports caps and understand in 1982, CNN was not an upstart. It was not the feisty outsider. It was not the future of news. We were called Pretend tv. It was said that CNN stood for Chicken Noodle News. One day I called somebody up and asked for press credentials for Cable News Network, and the guy said, cable News Network? You the people own the newsstands downtown. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I went to one of the newsstands and I asked the guy who owns this place? And he pointed to a plaque and it said, owned by Cabell News Company. The Cabell News Company, owner of downtown newsstands, was better known than Cable News Network. We got scoffed at in some arenas and venues like Madison Square Garden in New York. Our crews were not admitted because they were not in the union. So the CBS Sports caps were an important, albeit borrowed, touch of legitimacy and dignity, especially for my cameraman and my deck guy. So the three of us position ourselves in that long hall in the lobby, waiting for my boss, Ted Turner, me holding the mic with the big red CNN logo on the mic flag, and the crew wearing their gaudy CBS sports caps. And in Ted walks, emerging from the brilliant early autumn sunshine filtering behind him from the street like this was a perfectly lit movie scene. And he sees me and recognize me and smiles and comes over and beams, hot damn, it's my CNN crew. And he shakes my hand and we roll tape and I start to ask him my first question and suddenly the joy drains from his face and he stops me, hold it. What they wearing on their heads? He gestures at the cameraman and the deck guy and I explain the Baxter, I don't give a damn who gave him that. This is CNN Crew they wear in CBS sports caps get them off they heads and he pushes me. I mean really shoves me and strides past us. Now Even then I'm five, six inches taller than Ted Turner and 25 pounds heavier at least. And maybe I can live with my employer embarrassing me in public that I do not have to let him shove me in front of all the other reporters. So for a second I think I'm just gonna run down the hall and catch him and horse collar bastard from behind. About a year into my TV career, I have already accepted that there are positives to television. But I've also already learned nearly all the negatives. And not three months earlier I had gone over to ABC to interview with them about going back to do radio sports. Seems to me, given what I know about Ted Turner, dragging him to the ground and then quitting TV forever would be a pretty appropriate farewell. And then one word popped into my head. Rent. Rent. So quickly I go to plan B. To be fair in thought, if not in action, Ted Turner was right. Looked pretty silly to have the CNN camera crew wearing CBS sports caps while interviewing the founder and owner of cnn, who by the way was in the newspaper constantly because he kept saying he was going to buy cbs. Plus I still had a story to do that day and that crew was going to have to go back into the room where Turner would be meeting with the players about an hour later for the proverbial spray shot that would give us some video to use of their meeting. And simply having my guys take their caps off was not going to suffice. So I ran the three blocks back to my apartment to grab the only bit of merch or swag produced in the first two years of cnn, something they had an apparently inexhaustible supply of of CNN bumper stickers. I must have had a hundred of them in my place alone. And there were boxes and cartons and boxes and cartons of them in the New York bureau, which was funny enough as it was, since I don't think all the people who worked at CNN in New York in 1982 owned six cars among them. Anyway, I trimmed a couple of the stickers down to just the CNN logos and raced back to the crappy Lowe's hotel. And just as they were calling for the crews to come in to get the spray shots of Ted meeting, I put those CNN logo stickers over the CBS logos on my guys caps and to my delight, they stuck in place. Little large, but it worked. Minutes later the boys came out of the meeting room and the cameraman was in hysterics. He wound the video back and had me watch it through the viewfinder of the camera. As soon as they had walked in, Turner started to give them dirty looks. And then suddenly one of the NFL players said, hey, Ted, there's your crew. There's your CNN crew. Hey, cnn, over here. Everybody was laughing and now Ted was beaming. That them? That's my CNN crew. All right, good work, boys. When his meeting with the players broke up an hour later, I got a message from Ted's assistant to wait for him around a corner from the main lobby so he could give me give CNN exclusive details about what he was trying to sell the players on. It was a series of exhibition games so the striking players could make a little money on the side that he could televise. And there would be a pitch to the National Labor Relations Board that the strike had been forced on the players by the owners, which would have meant the players would have all become free agents. Ted wanted them, all of them, every player in the National Football League to sign instead with him. He would create a 24 team league. He would give the union half ownership of every team. He would find backers for the other half. And all he wanted was the TV rights. It didn't happen, obviously, but what a breathtaking scheme. Anyway, Turner was all smiles when he came out of the meeting to tell me before he met with the rest of the press. And he said, great with a hat. Good work. Gonna have to get you guys some real CNN sports hats for Christmas. Ted stayed another 15 or 20 minutes doing God knows what with God knows whom. I didn't see any dumpsters in the hotel. And then he left by the main exit. As the rest of the camera crews and reporters trailed the. I went along just to see if there was anything he hadn't told me. And as he went out the doors to his car, he said, see Overman? And I said, don't forget the hats. And Ted Turner gave me one of the dirtiest looks I have ever gotten in my life. Sure enough, a couple days before Christmas, I get a call from my boss in Atlanta. We just got a box of 100 CNN sports truckers caps from Ted Turner's office. I don't know what the hell this is all about, but his assistant says, if we wanted to know, we should call you. I was very proud of making the correct choice between correcting mistake and getting us all hats and assaulting him. There is one postscript. Ted talked the players into the exhibition games. I mentioned Only two of them. One at RFK Stadium in Washington, which I went to on assignment seated next to Ted, turned. He had two flasks with him. Anyway, the crowd was so small at RFK Stadium in Washington that at one point they got on the PA system and asked all the fans to go sit down behind the player benches so the TV shots of the game wouldn't show all those empty seats. The other game was in the Los Angeles Coliseum. They drew even less. Maybe a thousand fans. Probably more like 500. 500 fans in the LA Coliseum. 500 fans looks like the raisins and rice pudding. But it was the name of his ad hoc league. With these games in Washington and LA that still sticks with me 40 years later. Ted named it himself. I'm pretty sure he did this deliberately. I know nobody else noticed it until I made a big deal about it. Ted Turner called his ill fated venture his Erzatz National Football League the quote All Star season. And I said, perfect. The acronym you have built for it is assigned. How could I possibly have known at the age of 23 that Ted Turner would be the most employee friendly TV owner I'd ever meet? Given that I actually met him twice? Because I met him again after he got sober and it was like meeting him all over again. And given how much money he was losing in 1982 against the curve, he was also the least cheap when it comes came to his employees. Anywho, I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening. Most of our Countdown music was arranged, produced and performed by Brian Ray on the guitars, bass and drums, and John Philip Chenale handling orchestration and keyboards. They of course, are our musical directors of Countdown. It was produced by TKO Brothers. Our satirical and pithy musical comments are by the best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Foust. The sports music is the only Older men. Theme from ESPN2 written by Mitch Warren Davis, courtesy of ESPN Inc. Other music arranged and performed by the group no horns allowed. My announcer today was my friend Kenny Main. This program was produced by Ted. Everything else was, as always, my fault. That's Countdown for today. Day 344 of America held hostage again. Just 1,119 days until the scheduled end of his lame duck and lame brained term. Unless he is removed sooner by MAGA or Sundowning or Jeffrey Epstein or affordability or Susie Wiles or marble armrests, there's no Countdown Thursday. Happy New Year. Until the next one. Next year. I'm Keith Olbermann. 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. Mypolicyadvocate.com decluttering is everything.

[A]

It clears your space, your mind, and it can give you shopping power. With Trashy Just buy a trashy bag, fill it with anything you no longer need, then ship it free and earn rewards points instantly. Earn points even faster when you shop exclusive trashy deals and redeem them for gift cards to brands you love, or even donate them to charity. It's never been easier to turn clutter into shopping power. Get started Today at Trashy I.O. that's T R A S H I E I.O. 10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract worth $250,000.

[B]

This is where mindset comes in.

[A]

Someone will be eliminated.

[B]

Pressure is coming down.

[C]

Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8th.

[B]

Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[A]

Of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball Season 2, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5 on TNT, TruTV and HBO.

[C]

Max support for the show comes from 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 EFTs 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 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 investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.com disclosures this.

[A]

Is an iHeart podcast.

[B]

Guaranteed human.