1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:23,915 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Trump 2 00:00:24,035 --> 00:00:28,395 Speaker 1: has started World War three, and Trump has no idea 3 00:00:28,435 --> 00:00:30,635 Speaker 1: how to stop World War three. And if you are 4 00:00:30,675 --> 00:00:33,555 Speaker 1: trying to understand how Trump could be in a fugue 5 00:00:33,595 --> 00:00:38,475 Speaker 1: state about his own World War three, NBC has reported 6 00:00:38,515 --> 00:00:41,635 Speaker 1: that each morning they show him a video of the 7 00:00:41,675 --> 00:00:47,035 Speaker 1: most successful strikes, the most successful bombing runs in Iran 8 00:00:47,355 --> 00:00:51,315 Speaker 1: from the previous day two minutes, which one source quote 9 00:00:51,555 --> 00:00:56,555 Speaker 1: described each daily video as a series of clips of quote, 10 00:00:56,995 --> 00:01:06,755 Speaker 1: stuff blowing up, his own personal edition of sports from 11 00:01:06,835 --> 00:01:13,195 Speaker 1: way downtown bang or if you like the other guy gone. 12 00:01:13,715 --> 00:01:16,835 Speaker 1: This is all he sees because this is all he understands. 13 00:01:17,195 --> 00:01:20,435 Speaker 1: That's not two minutes of people dying. That's two minutes 14 00:01:20,435 --> 00:01:24,715 Speaker 1: of stuff blowing up. And he's mentally ill, and he 15 00:01:24,875 --> 00:01:27,875 Speaker 1: is a sadist, and on top of that, he is 16 00:01:27,915 --> 00:01:33,955 Speaker 1: physically deteriorating. Stuff blowing up is all Trump understands, and 17 00:01:33,995 --> 00:01:36,995 Speaker 1: it's all he thinks war is. Of course, we're winning. 18 00:01:37,955 --> 00:01:40,995 Speaker 1: He has never seen any video of Iran blowing any 19 00:01:41,075 --> 00:01:44,875 Speaker 1: of our stuff up. So Trump comes out of this 20 00:01:44,995 --> 00:01:49,475 Speaker 1: wondering why all the newscasts aren't just showing him blowing 21 00:01:49,555 --> 00:01:52,555 Speaker 1: stuff up in Iran. The rest of it doesn't even 22 00:01:52,635 --> 00:01:56,755 Speaker 1: confused him. It just doesn't exist to him. There aren't 23 00:01:56,875 --> 00:02:01,755 Speaker 1: other people there. Hell, there aren't other people on Earth, 24 00:02:02,435 --> 00:02:09,595 Speaker 1: only him from way downtown bang So when the new 25 00:02:09,635 --> 00:02:13,035 Speaker 1: polling comes out Associated Press nork And it says fifty 26 00:02:13,115 --> 00:02:15,635 Speaker 1: nine percent of Americans now think his military action in 27 00:02:15,675 --> 00:02:19,835 Speaker 1: Iran is excessive, and forty five percent are extremely concerned 28 00:02:19,915 --> 00:02:22,835 Speaker 1: or very concerned they won't be able to afford gas 29 00:02:22,995 --> 00:02:25,475 Speaker 1: in the next few months. Half again as many as 30 00:02:25,475 --> 00:02:29,915 Speaker 1: after Trump's election. He can't process that. He doesn't even try. 31 00:02:30,555 --> 00:02:32,675 Speaker 1: But look at all the stuff we blow up. We 32 00:02:32,755 --> 00:02:39,395 Speaker 1: won it blew up. Trump has started World War three 33 00:02:40,075 --> 00:02:42,675 Speaker 1: and has no idea how to stop World War three, 34 00:02:43,355 --> 00:02:45,315 Speaker 1: and has no idea why we are not all seeing 35 00:02:45,355 --> 00:02:49,475 Speaker 1: the same addition of world War three center that he is. 36 00:02:51,915 --> 00:02:55,195 Speaker 1: And Trump is losing world War three conflagration in the 37 00:02:55,195 --> 00:02:58,995 Speaker 1: Middle East. Trump insisting Iran is dead, and yet Iran 38 00:02:58,995 --> 00:03:02,355 Speaker 1: has struck Tel Aviv. Putin has sent the Russian oil tanker, 39 00:03:02,435 --> 00:03:05,475 Speaker 1: the Kaladin, to Cuba just to remind does he can 40 00:03:05,915 --> 00:03:08,955 Speaker 1: a Russian warship escorting it as far as the English Channel. 41 00:03:09,395 --> 00:03:12,475 Speaker 1: Trump has now given Iran de facto control of the 42 00:03:12,515 --> 00:03:16,155 Speaker 1: worldwide price of a barrel of oil. Iran now controls 43 00:03:16,315 --> 00:03:21,035 Speaker 1: thirty percent of worldwide fertilizer distribution because of Trump's war, 44 00:03:21,115 --> 00:03:25,715 Speaker 1: the Philippines declares an emergency and energy emergency, and Slovenia 45 00:03:25,795 --> 00:03:30,235 Speaker 1: institutes energy rationing thirteen gallons of gas per car per day. 46 00:03:30,755 --> 00:03:35,195 Speaker 1: United Airlines here just raised airfares twenty percent because of oil. 47 00:03:35,515 --> 00:03:38,955 Speaker 1: Trump insists peace could be imminent, yet sends thousands more 48 00:03:38,995 --> 00:03:42,355 Speaker 1: troops to Iran. He mumbles about a peace proposal. It 49 00:03:42,435 --> 00:03:45,595 Speaker 1: may be last year's peace proposal and he has forgotten. 50 00:03:46,515 --> 00:03:48,955 Speaker 1: Trump insists Iran has agreed to never again have a 51 00:03:49,035 --> 00:03:51,755 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon, and then he says, we wiped out all 52 00:03:51,795 --> 00:03:54,515 Speaker 1: their leaders, so we don't know who to talk to. 53 00:03:54,715 --> 00:03:58,075 Speaker 1: But he's talking to the right people. Ukraine is still 54 00:03:58,115 --> 00:04:02,395 Speaker 1: striking inside Russia, and Russia, of course still striking inside Ukraine. 55 00:04:02,835 --> 00:04:08,515 Speaker 1: The Secretary of natouddenly swerves from skepticism to toadying for Trump, 56 00:04:08,875 --> 00:04:12,235 Speaker 1: and the Europeans are fearing blackmail or bribery of him. 57 00:04:12,795 --> 00:04:18,115 Speaker 1: A Pakistani army field marshal is now involved because the 58 00:04:18,115 --> 00:04:22,115 Speaker 1: pakistanis nominated Trump for that goddamn nobel peace prize. And 59 00:04:22,155 --> 00:04:25,235 Speaker 1: now this field Marshal thinks he can be the mediator 60 00:04:25,275 --> 00:04:28,275 Speaker 1: for Trump's war with Iran, the war which is apparently 61 00:04:28,315 --> 00:04:31,795 Speaker 1: being conducted in part so crooks can make half a 62 00:04:31,835 --> 00:04:35,715 Speaker 1: billion dollars at a time in insider trades or bets 63 00:04:35,795 --> 00:04:40,235 Speaker 1: about oil prices. And of course the ultimate insanity. Now 64 00:04:40,355 --> 00:04:44,995 Speaker 1: the point of Trump's World War three has become to 65 00:04:45,235 --> 00:04:50,035 Speaker 1: reopen the Strait of Hormuz. After the Strait of Hormuz 66 00:04:50,475 --> 00:04:56,835 Speaker 1: was closed by Trump's World War three. Literally more than 67 00:04:56,875 --> 00:05:02,875 Speaker 1: twenty nations in two hemispheres involved. Literally, it's World War three. 68 00:05:03,115 --> 00:05:05,875 Speaker 1: What World War three had to have? New UKs give 69 00:05:05,915 --> 00:05:08,795 Speaker 1: it time. Oh and the Wall Street Journal has gone 70 00:05:08,835 --> 00:05:12,115 Speaker 1: all Doctor Strange have on us. By the way, quote, 71 00:05:12,235 --> 00:05:15,035 Speaker 1: the Trump administration finds itself in a larger war than 72 00:05:15,155 --> 00:05:19,875 Speaker 1: it expected. Facing a profoundly hard decision, Trump must put 73 00:05:19,955 --> 00:05:22,915 Speaker 1: boots on the ground to open the strait of horror 74 00:05:22,915 --> 00:05:28,155 Speaker 1: moves and demonstrate the unquestionable supremacy of American power. If 75 00:05:28,195 --> 00:05:36,715 Speaker 1: he fails, his legacy will be one of American collapse. Sure, 76 00:05:37,355 --> 00:05:40,315 Speaker 1: thousands of American troops to invade Iran. And by the way, 77 00:05:40,915 --> 00:05:43,035 Speaker 1: the part people like the lunatics at the Wall Street 78 00:05:43,075 --> 00:05:46,235 Speaker 1: Journal editorial board always leave out American troops to die 79 00:05:46,355 --> 00:05:50,755 Speaker 1: in Iran in a multi year, maybe multi decade invasion 80 00:05:51,195 --> 00:05:56,835 Speaker 1: and occupation of an entire nation where the dictatorship chanced 81 00:05:56,835 --> 00:06:00,355 Speaker 1: death to America. And after we did nothing for the resistance, 82 00:06:00,475 --> 00:06:04,755 Speaker 1: guess what, the resistance also chanced death to America. Invade 83 00:06:04,835 --> 00:06:13,115 Speaker 1: and occupy the Strait over Hormuz and harg Island and Tehran, Tehran, 84 00:06:13,235 --> 00:06:17,275 Speaker 1: a city of ten million people. And we have to 85 00:06:17,315 --> 00:06:23,395 Speaker 1: do this or we face quote American collapse. It is madness. 86 00:06:23,875 --> 00:06:28,875 Speaker 1: It is unadulterated, unrelieved, unconscionable madness. And it is all 87 00:06:28,875 --> 00:06:32,555 Speaker 1: because Trump needed to distract from the Epstein files and 88 00:06:32,675 --> 00:06:35,955 Speaker 1: distract from his destruction of the American economy, and distract 89 00:06:35,955 --> 00:06:40,195 Speaker 1: from his obsession with tariffs, a tool of the nineteenth century, 90 00:06:40,595 --> 00:06:43,515 Speaker 1: and to distract from his racism, and to distract from 91 00:06:43,555 --> 00:06:47,915 Speaker 1: his amazingly consistent bad judgment in personnel, asked Christy Nome 92 00:06:48,115 --> 00:06:53,275 Speaker 1: and her twenty dollars hore Cory Lewandowski, World War III 93 00:06:54,075 --> 00:06:57,355 Speaker 1: now on the verge of escalating to sending thousands of 94 00:06:57,395 --> 00:07:01,635 Speaker 1: American troops there to try to recreate in Iran, George W. 95 00:07:01,715 --> 00:07:05,155 Speaker 1: Bush's failure in Iraq only on a scale ten times 96 00:07:05,195 --> 00:07:08,795 Speaker 1: as large. Because Trump cannot face the fact that he 97 00:07:08,875 --> 00:07:12,835 Speaker 1: has failed. He has failed at everything. He has failed 98 00:07:12,875 --> 00:07:16,915 Speaker 1: at every point, He has failed at every time. The 99 00:07:16,995 --> 00:07:20,995 Speaker 1: only thing Donald Trump has not yet failed at is failing. 100 00:07:24,515 --> 00:07:27,155 Speaker 1: Let me circle back to these so called peace talks. 101 00:07:27,515 --> 00:07:29,875 Speaker 1: This may in fact be the first time we can 102 00:07:29,955 --> 00:07:34,155 Speaker 1: draw a straight line between Trump's mounting instability and the 103 00:07:34,195 --> 00:07:37,995 Speaker 1: deaths of American troops, to say nothing of the deaths 104 00:07:37,995 --> 00:07:40,875 Speaker 1: of other soldiers of other nations, and of course, of 105 00:07:40,915 --> 00:07:45,435 Speaker 1: civilians by the thousands. There is constant talk now of 106 00:07:45,475 --> 00:07:50,355 Speaker 1: a fifteen point American peace plan or ceasefire plan, or 107 00:07:50,715 --> 00:07:54,035 Speaker 1: plan for a plan. And the problem is the American 108 00:07:54,075 --> 00:07:58,475 Speaker 1: peace plan from twenty twenty five was also fifteen points, 109 00:07:58,875 --> 00:08:02,995 Speaker 1: and in many accountings of this they seem to be 110 00:08:03,155 --> 00:08:07,235 Speaker 1: the same fifteen points. We have to face this. There 111 00:08:07,315 --> 00:08:12,435 Speaker 1: is every possibility that Trump has conflated the two, that 112 00:08:12,515 --> 00:08:18,995 Speaker 1: Trump doesn't know it's not twenty twenty five anymore. Then 113 00:08:18,995 --> 00:08:21,475 Speaker 1: there was his insistence that they sent him a present 114 00:08:21,555 --> 00:08:26,555 Speaker 1: of some kind, that the Iranians had sent him a present. 115 00:08:28,355 --> 00:08:31,835 Speaker 1: Maybe it's the present of an excursion or incursion or 116 00:08:31,875 --> 00:08:36,795 Speaker 1: a mutilization of something, or asylum at the asylum near 117 00:08:36,875 --> 00:08:40,755 Speaker 1: the malfunction at the junction. Quote, they're going to make 118 00:08:40,795 --> 00:08:44,075 Speaker 1: a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing. Actually, 119 00:08:44,355 --> 00:08:48,035 Speaker 1: they gave us a present, and the present arrived today. 120 00:08:48,635 --> 00:08:51,675 Speaker 1: It was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount 121 00:08:51,715 --> 00:08:54,035 Speaker 1: of money. I'm not going to tell you what that 122 00:08:54,115 --> 00:09:00,235 Speaker 1: present is, but it was very significant. Prize to quote 123 00:09:00,315 --> 00:09:03,035 Speaker 1: Ralphie's father from a Christmas story, it's a major award, 124 00:09:03,195 --> 00:09:07,675 Speaker 1: a major award, and I want it. My guess would 125 00:09:07,675 --> 00:09:15,355 Speaker 1: be the Iranians have Gibbon Trump the Nobel Pizza Prize. Unfortunately, 126 00:09:15,355 --> 00:09:17,915 Speaker 1: while Trump is drifting in and out of consciousness, and 127 00:09:17,955 --> 00:09:20,595 Speaker 1: you can tell he's drifting in and out of consciousness, 128 00:09:20,675 --> 00:09:24,275 Speaker 1: look at how his cabinet members are treating him. Sure, sure, Chief, 129 00:09:24,315 --> 00:09:27,075 Speaker 1: whatever you say, you're the best of all time, as 130 00:09:27,155 --> 00:09:29,195 Speaker 1: long as you don't start another one of your two 131 00:09:29,235 --> 00:09:34,395 Speaker 1: hour monologues. While Trump is seeing things, some of which 132 00:09:34,475 --> 00:09:38,395 Speaker 1: might even be there. Iran actually has a ceasefire plan 133 00:09:38,755 --> 00:09:41,395 Speaker 1: and all the US has to do is close all 134 00:09:41,435 --> 00:09:44,315 Speaker 1: American bases in the Gulf, pay reparations for the missile 135 00:09:44,355 --> 00:09:47,875 Speaker 1: varage on Iran, pay for all transit through the Strait 136 00:09:47,915 --> 00:09:51,035 Speaker 1: of horror moves, lift all sanctions on Iran, and let 137 00:09:51,075 --> 00:09:56,035 Speaker 1: Iran resume its missile building programs. And as insane as 138 00:09:56,075 --> 00:09:59,435 Speaker 1: those demands are, they are likelier to happen than Trump's are. 139 00:10:00,315 --> 00:10:03,475 Speaker 1: He has dug us a hole so deep that Israel's 140 00:10:03,555 --> 00:10:06,915 Speaker 1: Channel twelve reports that the actual American priority at the 141 00:10:06,955 --> 00:10:09,875 Speaker 1: moment is to try to get a ceasefire for a month, 142 00:10:10,715 --> 00:10:18,115 Speaker 1: to try to reach something, to try to reach some agreement. 143 00:10:19,675 --> 00:10:21,675 Speaker 1: I think we need to reach some agreement on what 144 00:10:21,795 --> 00:10:26,515 Speaker 1: our ceasefire proposal really is, because, as the Iranian military 145 00:10:26,595 --> 00:10:34,275 Speaker 1: leadership insightfully said, the US is negotiating with itself periodically. 146 00:10:34,315 --> 00:10:37,355 Speaker 1: Trump does bob up from under the surface of whatever 147 00:10:37,395 --> 00:10:41,835 Speaker 1: embalming fluid he's swimming around in, and you can tell 148 00:10:41,875 --> 00:10:45,355 Speaker 1: he's already looking for a scapegoat. It is late in 149 00:10:45,435 --> 00:10:50,195 Speaker 1: the episode of The Apprentice. In his mind Rubio, Well, 150 00:10:50,195 --> 00:10:54,955 Speaker 1: we haven't seen Rubio in days. Whit cough too easy? 151 00:10:54,995 --> 00:10:59,075 Speaker 1: Nobody takes whitcough seriously anyway, No, that's it. Oh, No, 152 00:10:59,235 --> 00:11:06,035 Speaker 1: I already fired. No hag Seth oh yeah, uh heg 153 00:11:06,275 --> 00:11:09,475 Speaker 1: Seth and Pete, I think you were the first one 154 00:11:09,515 --> 00:11:12,235 Speaker 1: to speak up, and you said, let's do it, because 155 00:11:12,275 --> 00:11:15,715 Speaker 1: you can't let them have a nuclear weapon. Trump has 156 00:11:15,755 --> 00:11:17,755 Speaker 1: done this enough times by now that you can see 157 00:11:17,755 --> 00:11:21,635 Speaker 1: the pattern. We're at the start. The blame first requires 158 00:11:21,675 --> 00:11:25,595 Speaker 1: giving the victim to be credit for something. Oh, you 159 00:11:25,835 --> 00:11:28,275 Speaker 1: thought this up first, Pete. You were the first to 160 00:11:28,315 --> 00:11:30,995 Speaker 1: say it. You were the one who had this idea first. 161 00:11:31,195 --> 00:11:34,155 Speaker 1: You were the first to realize fill in the blank. 162 00:11:34,795 --> 00:11:37,955 Speaker 1: Then when he has decided, when he has satisfied himself 163 00:11:38,075 --> 00:11:40,715 Speaker 1: that he has established that this wasn't really his plan, 164 00:11:40,995 --> 00:11:44,915 Speaker 1: but yours, when he believes the public believes it's yours, 165 00:11:45,995 --> 00:11:49,395 Speaker 1: When the beautiful gold with gold highlights rug has been 166 00:11:49,435 --> 00:11:52,475 Speaker 1: carefully placed and he has convinced you to stand on it, 167 00:11:53,075 --> 00:11:57,835 Speaker 1: when this is your war, or your ice surge, or 168 00:11:57,875 --> 00:12:01,875 Speaker 1: your Department of Justice Jeff Sessions. Then comes part two. 169 00:12:02,995 --> 00:12:07,355 Speaker 1: The rug, the beautiful gold on gold rug is pulled 170 00:12:07,355 --> 00:12:13,435 Speaker 1: out from under you. Pete, Hey, Mario ever thought of 171 00:12:13,475 --> 00:12:18,675 Speaker 1: yourself as Secretary of State and Defense. I cannot predict 172 00:12:18,675 --> 00:12:21,555 Speaker 1: at what point Trump will fire heg Seth. He likes 173 00:12:21,555 --> 00:12:24,635 Speaker 1: heg Seth on TV because like Chance the gardener from 174 00:12:24,635 --> 00:12:28,435 Speaker 1: Peter Seller's being there. Trump can still process TV, he 175 00:12:28,555 --> 00:12:32,515 Speaker 1: just can't process the real world. But if it's not 176 00:12:32,555 --> 00:12:35,515 Speaker 1: hag Seth, he's gonna have to fire somebody soon, and 177 00:12:35,595 --> 00:12:38,475 Speaker 1: it has to be somebody the public recognizes, because even 178 00:12:38,515 --> 00:12:42,035 Speaker 1: the Rubes hate this war, hate what it's done to 179 00:12:42,075 --> 00:12:44,035 Speaker 1: the economy, hate what it's done to the cost of 180 00:12:44,075 --> 00:12:46,635 Speaker 1: filling up their pickups, to say nothing of the price 181 00:12:46,675 --> 00:12:49,035 Speaker 1: of the fuel with which to light a lawn full 182 00:12:49,115 --> 00:12:54,315 Speaker 1: of burning crosses. They see it, which means somebody's gonna 183 00:12:54,315 --> 00:12:58,915 Speaker 1: get it. There was an irony this week to insights 184 00:12:58,955 --> 00:13:02,355 Speaker 1: about Trump, particularly on this topic, especially on how he 185 00:13:02,435 --> 00:13:05,675 Speaker 1: makes sure the buck may stop somewhere, but it's not 186 00:13:05,715 --> 00:13:09,115 Speaker 1: going to stop anywhere near him. And the inside came 187 00:13:09,155 --> 00:13:13,595 Speaker 1: at one of these ludicrous sideshow Trump events. Not a 188 00:13:13,595 --> 00:13:16,835 Speaker 1: big truck demonstration this time on the White House lawn. 189 00:13:17,315 --> 00:13:19,675 Speaker 1: Not the destruction of the reputation of a bunch of 190 00:13:19,675 --> 00:13:22,915 Speaker 1: Olympic hockey players at a political event they're too dim 191 00:13:22,995 --> 00:13:26,235 Speaker 1: to understand, Not knocking down the White House and putting 192 00:13:26,275 --> 00:13:34,155 Speaker 1: up a McDonald's. But at Graceland, Graceland, this WTF moment 193 00:13:34,475 --> 00:13:38,595 Speaker 1: at the home of Elvis Presley. The insight from one 194 00:13:38,755 --> 00:13:42,755 Speaker 1: employee there one employee of the My God, Elvis Presley 195 00:13:42,795 --> 00:13:44,955 Speaker 1: died when I was eighteen years old, and we're still 196 00:13:44,995 --> 00:13:48,595 Speaker 1: talking about him association. I think that's the group's name 197 00:13:48,595 --> 00:13:52,355 Speaker 1: that runs Graceland. This insight from the second of the 198 00:13:52,395 --> 00:13:55,915 Speaker 1: two Graceland employees you will hear here is better than 199 00:13:55,915 --> 00:13:59,795 Speaker 1: that of any other political commentator this week, including me, 200 00:14:00,475 --> 00:14:05,555 Speaker 1: and obviously far more succinct about Elvis and Rata and 201 00:14:05,635 --> 00:14:08,835 Speaker 1: Bruce Lee and Trump, Trump, for whom every set of 202 00:14:08,875 --> 00:14:12,595 Speaker 1: stairs may be his last, who was still speculating about 203 00:14:12,595 --> 00:14:17,595 Speaker 1: the outcome of a fight, a fight against Elvis, presumably 204 00:14:17,635 --> 00:14:20,955 Speaker 1: before Elvis died. Elvis had two eighth screen black belts 205 00:14:20,995 --> 00:14:23,035 Speaker 1: of karate when was in Kent, feminough what this? Was 206 00:14:23,035 --> 00:14:25,075 Speaker 1: he really good? Or was it just actually he was 207 00:14:25,155 --> 00:14:27,635 Speaker 1: really good? He started? I have taken him in a fight. 208 00:14:28,035 --> 00:14:29,475 Speaker 1: I don't know. You might think he would have been 209 00:14:29,475 --> 00:14:32,355 Speaker 1: respectful enough to let you Yes, he probably would. I 210 00:14:32,395 --> 00:14:37,755 Speaker 1: think he would have been respectful enough to let you win. Yes, 211 00:14:38,475 --> 00:14:40,795 Speaker 1: if you expand the practical meaning and use of that 212 00:14:40,835 --> 00:14:45,315 Speaker 1: word respectful in there to include other words like I 213 00:14:45,315 --> 00:14:47,675 Speaker 1: think he would have been tired enough to let you win, 214 00:14:48,595 --> 00:14:51,395 Speaker 1: or I think he would have been just not willing 215 00:14:51,435 --> 00:14:53,995 Speaker 1: to put up with hearing you whine and martyr yourself 216 00:14:54,115 --> 00:14:59,995 Speaker 1: again enough to let you win. There it is, That's 217 00:15:00,035 --> 00:15:03,115 Speaker 1: where we are. That's why Trump got to start World 218 00:15:03,195 --> 00:15:07,755 Speaker 1: War three and why he is using it. You're tired, 219 00:15:08,635 --> 00:15:14,115 Speaker 1: I'm tired. We can do other things. The people around 220 00:15:14,155 --> 00:15:16,915 Speaker 1: him are living this, and some of them went into 221 00:15:16,955 --> 00:15:20,075 Speaker 1: this thinking, well, no, Trump can't actually be like this, 222 00:15:20,515 --> 00:15:23,675 Speaker 1: and they are discovering now that they are in hell 223 00:15:24,315 --> 00:15:27,435 Speaker 1: and the door with which they used to get into 224 00:15:27,515 --> 00:15:33,395 Speaker 1: hell has disappeared. I think he would have been respectful 225 00:15:33,475 --> 00:15:35,475 Speaker 1: enough to let you win. That's how his cabinet is 226 00:15:35,475 --> 00:15:38,115 Speaker 1: treating him. That's how most of his cult is treating him. 227 00:15:38,235 --> 00:15:41,475 Speaker 1: That's how large slots. But I think decreasing numbers of 228 00:15:41,595 --> 00:15:46,155 Speaker 1: sloths of America is treating him. Between a kind of 229 00:15:46,395 --> 00:15:49,915 Speaker 1: vestigial respect for what the office used to be and 230 00:15:49,955 --> 00:15:54,115 Speaker 1: the simple exhaustion of fighting this bullshit every hour of 231 00:15:54,195 --> 00:15:58,435 Speaker 1: every day. His cabinet has devolved into let's let him 232 00:15:58,475 --> 00:16:02,355 Speaker 1: do what he wants, Just praise him and keep him quiet. 233 00:16:02,715 --> 00:16:06,355 Speaker 1: When the building collapses on him, maybe we'll get lucky 234 00:16:06,395 --> 00:16:09,315 Speaker 1: and we won't be next to him when it does. 235 00:16:13,235 --> 00:16:16,595 Speaker 1: A good plan if you're Susie Wiles or jd Vance 236 00:16:17,235 --> 00:16:22,555 Speaker 1: or Marco Rubio, if you were say somebody everybody in 237 00:16:22,555 --> 00:16:29,195 Speaker 1: Iran not so much, or somebody everybody in America, because 238 00:16:29,195 --> 00:16:32,195 Speaker 1: the problem is the building that is about to collapse 239 00:16:33,395 --> 00:16:56,835 Speaker 1: is the United States of America. I'm going to go 240 00:16:56,875 --> 00:16:58,715 Speaker 1: out on a limb here and guess that they did 241 00:16:58,715 --> 00:17:01,235 Speaker 1: not show him a highlight clip of the Democrat crushing 242 00:17:01,275 --> 00:17:03,795 Speaker 1: the Republican in the Florida State House race for the 243 00:17:03,835 --> 00:17:08,595 Speaker 1: district that includes Dud's Mary Lago. The representative elect is 244 00:17:08,635 --> 00:17:13,115 Speaker 1: Emily Gregory. Her full time work is in mental health. 245 00:17:14,195 --> 00:17:17,915 Speaker 1: She's got the right district. Trump presumably voted against her. 246 00:17:18,035 --> 00:17:23,875 Speaker 1: We know he voted by mail, and Milania voted by mail, 247 00:17:24,875 --> 00:17:30,475 Speaker 1: and Baron voted by mail, and the Republicans handed the 248 00:17:30,515 --> 00:17:36,235 Speaker 1: Democrats another campaign theme about mail in voting, another campaign 249 00:17:36,275 --> 00:17:41,315 Speaker 1: theme they won't use. They presumably have enough video of 250 00:17:41,435 --> 00:17:46,155 Speaker 1: Corey Booker and his book tour, just as they will 251 00:17:46,195 --> 00:17:50,435 Speaker 1: not use the imbecility of the new head of Homeland Security, 252 00:17:50,635 --> 00:17:55,795 Speaker 1: Mark Kwayne Mullen, John Wayne Mullen, John Wayne Gacy Mullen, 253 00:17:56,395 --> 00:18:01,715 Speaker 1: NEPO plumber sworn in and talking immediately about the TSA 254 00:18:01,835 --> 00:18:04,915 Speaker 1: working without paychecks, which is because Trump would not agree 255 00:18:05,795 --> 00:18:07,755 Speaker 1: to what the Republicans in the Senate and the House 256 00:18:07,795 --> 00:18:13,715 Speaker 1: did agree, a bipartisan pay TSA standalone bill. Mark Wain 257 00:18:13,875 --> 00:18:18,555 Speaker 1: is confused as usual. They're working with for free because 258 00:18:18,595 --> 00:18:21,515 Speaker 1: of political politics. That's all I need to know. I 259 00:18:21,555 --> 00:18:27,355 Speaker 1: hate them political politics. We need more less political political 260 00:18:28,235 --> 00:18:33,475 Speaker 1: politics from the Ministry of Propaganda. Oh it's not going well. 261 00:18:33,755 --> 00:18:37,555 Speaker 1: Oliver Darcy's Status newsletter reports that the CBS Evening News 262 00:18:37,635 --> 00:18:41,635 Speaker 1: with no journalism is on track for its lowest rated 263 00:18:41,675 --> 00:18:48,395 Speaker 1: first quarter of this century. The next data point will 264 00:18:48,395 --> 00:18:52,275 Speaker 1: be the worst ratings since they went to color TV 265 00:18:54,595 --> 00:18:58,035 Speaker 1: in total viewers and in the young viewers demographic. Its 266 00:18:58,035 --> 00:19:00,835 Speaker 1: audience is now down to half the size of NBC 267 00:19:00,995 --> 00:19:05,315 Speaker 1: Nightly News with Olderman's old production assistant because yes, everything 268 00:19:05,355 --> 00:19:08,115 Speaker 1: is about me. And while Good Morning America went up 269 00:19:08,275 --> 00:19:11,315 Speaker 1: nine percent in total viewers and six percent among the 270 00:19:11,355 --> 00:19:14,795 Speaker 1: youngins and Today was up fifteen percent in total viewers, 271 00:19:14,795 --> 00:19:18,275 Speaker 1: that's an Olympic bump. The CBS Morning Show, now known 272 00:19:18,275 --> 00:19:20,795 Speaker 1: as I Don't Think Barry Weiss Knows how to turn 273 00:19:20,835 --> 00:19:24,675 Speaker 1: a television set on, is down thirteen percent in total 274 00:19:24,715 --> 00:19:28,595 Speaker 1: audience from last year. The demo audience for CBS mornings 275 00:19:28,875 --> 00:19:32,715 Speaker 1: is down twenty eight percent. It is at an average 276 00:19:32,715 --> 00:19:35,955 Speaker 1: of two hundred and sixty eight thousand at any given 277 00:19:36,035 --> 00:19:40,275 Speaker 1: point in the morning. For historical context, the last week 278 00:19:40,355 --> 00:19:45,635 Speaker 1: I did Countdown on MSNBC in a different world where 279 00:19:45,675 --> 00:19:49,435 Speaker 1: broadcast television was still fairly vibrant and it usually doubled 280 00:19:49,435 --> 00:19:51,955 Speaker 1: what was going on in cable in a different decade 281 00:19:51,955 --> 00:19:56,195 Speaker 1: in twenty eleven, the new CBS rating in the demo 282 00:19:56,235 --> 00:19:58,715 Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty eight thousand. In twenty eleven, the 283 00:19:58,795 --> 00:20:01,755 Speaker 1: last week of Countdown averaged in the demo three hundred 284 00:20:01,755 --> 00:20:07,155 Speaker 1: and seventy five thousand. Maybe they should just get that 285 00:20:07,235 --> 00:20:09,795 Speaker 1: two minute clip they showed Trump every morning of stuff 286 00:20:09,835 --> 00:20:12,755 Speaker 1: blowing up and running on a loop. Oh God, why 287 00:20:12,795 --> 00:20:20,715 Speaker 1: did I say that out loud? Also of interest here, 288 00:20:20,795 --> 00:20:26,475 Speaker 1: Cash Buttell's girlfriend, his federally funded girlfriend, bashes some critics 289 00:20:26,475 --> 00:20:29,755 Speaker 1: and claims they are connected to foreign agents. Who did 290 00:20:29,795 --> 00:20:35,595 Speaker 1: she bash? Tucker Carlson, General Flynn, Joe Kenton, canned ass 291 00:20:35,715 --> 00:20:40,275 Speaker 1: Owens worst persons in the world. Next, this is Countdown. 292 00:20:42,515 --> 00:21:08,915 Speaker 1: This is Countdown with Keith Oberman still ahead on this 293 00:21:08,995 --> 00:21:11,675 Speaker 1: all new additional countdown. I don't know if you saw this, 294 00:21:11,875 --> 00:21:14,875 Speaker 1: but a year before what will be the latest sports 295 00:21:14,955 --> 00:21:19,635 Speaker 1: labor cataclysm, the disastrous locking out of the baseball players 296 00:21:20,515 --> 00:21:23,635 Speaker 1: by the baseball owners and cancelation of the season of 297 00:21:23,635 --> 00:21:26,235 Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven, the head of the baseball union had 298 00:21:26,275 --> 00:21:29,755 Speaker 1: to quit over a little scandal in the office, an 299 00:21:29,795 --> 00:21:34,075 Speaker 1: alleged affair with a sister in law. Was it who 300 00:21:34,195 --> 00:21:39,555 Speaker 1: was working for him? Anyway? That flashed me back to 301 00:21:39,595 --> 00:21:41,795 Speaker 1: my earliest days, when I covered no less than two 302 00:21:42,035 --> 00:21:45,755 Speaker 1: titanic sports strikes in my first three years as a reporter, 303 00:21:45,995 --> 00:21:49,435 Speaker 1: including the NFL player strike of nineteen eighty two, which 304 00:21:49,475 --> 00:21:53,115 Speaker 1: the players actually won. There is a colorful story of 305 00:21:53,155 --> 00:21:56,235 Speaker 1: a drunken evening with the heads of the NFL players union, 306 00:21:56,755 --> 00:21:59,435 Speaker 1: But most importantly, there is also the story of how 307 00:21:59,475 --> 00:22:02,635 Speaker 1: the player's proposals of nineteen eighty two were rejected by 308 00:22:02,675 --> 00:22:09,795 Speaker 1: the owners as communism. Yet today those are the same 309 00:22:09,875 --> 00:22:14,595 Speaker 1: proposals the owners are making to the players, and which 310 00:22:14,795 --> 00:22:17,635 Speaker 1: may result in the cancelation of the baseball season of 311 00:22:17,675 --> 00:22:22,995 Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven because they're too favorable to management. Coming 312 00:22:23,075 --> 00:22:26,635 Speaker 1: up in things I promise not to tell in the 313 00:22:26,675 --> 00:22:29,515 Speaker 1: interim we always have more new idiots to talk about 314 00:22:29,555 --> 00:22:32,435 Speaker 1: the roundup of the miss Grants, morons and Dunning Kruger 315 00:22:32,435 --> 00:22:38,595 Speaker 1: effects specimens who constitute today's other worst persons in the world. 316 00:22:39,955 --> 00:22:44,635 Speaker 1: And we dedicate this episode to Senator Corey book tour. 317 00:22:46,075 --> 00:22:53,795 Speaker 1: Also to Cash Patel's girlfriend quote singer unquote Alexis Wilkins, 318 00:22:54,155 --> 00:22:58,715 Speaker 1: who is essentially underwritten by our government your tax dollars 319 00:22:58,755 --> 00:23:02,995 Speaker 1: in action? Am I right? On social media, she has 320 00:23:02,995 --> 00:23:10,355 Speaker 1: now insisted, no, she is not a quote Mosad honeypot unquote, 321 00:23:10,995 --> 00:23:15,795 Speaker 1: she is not Cash Pateel's Masad controller that that rumor 322 00:23:15,875 --> 00:23:18,555 Speaker 1: was the product of a campaign organized by people tied 323 00:23:18,595 --> 00:23:23,435 Speaker 1: to real foreign agents operating an organization called Catholics for Catholics. 324 00:23:24,355 --> 00:23:30,235 Speaker 1: People named Tucker Carlson, she says, General Michael Flynn, she says, 325 00:23:30,315 --> 00:23:35,275 Speaker 1: Joe Kent, she says, and Candace Owens. I think we 326 00:23:35,355 --> 00:23:38,275 Speaker 1: can agree that none of them belong in the worst 327 00:23:38,355 --> 00:23:42,395 Speaker 1: person segment per se. Because if you've got Cash Patel's 328 00:23:42,515 --> 00:23:48,195 Speaker 1: girlfriend dirtying up Tucker Carlson, Michael Flynn, Joe Kent, and 329 00:23:48,315 --> 00:23:56,155 Speaker 1: Candace Owens, we are all winners. So Lebron's worse the 330 00:23:56,315 --> 00:24:01,115 Speaker 1: Blaze and Joe Hanneman after its success, accusing an ex 331 00:24:01,235 --> 00:24:05,115 Speaker 1: DC policewoman of being the January sixth pipe bomber, then 332 00:24:05,195 --> 00:24:08,595 Speaker 1: saying ah, maybe not. Then wait, give us a moment, 333 00:24:08,835 --> 00:24:12,795 Speaker 1: then retracting the whole story, then praying the woman didn't 334 00:24:12,835 --> 00:24:15,955 Speaker 1: sue the hell out of them. The Blaze is back 335 00:24:15,995 --> 00:24:18,915 Speaker 1: with yet another story about who the January sixth RNC 336 00:24:19,155 --> 00:24:23,995 Speaker 1: DNC pipe bomb planter is or isn't. I'll just read 337 00:24:24,115 --> 00:24:27,795 Speaker 1: the tweet about the man they actually arrested for the crime. 338 00:24:27,795 --> 00:24:30,795 Speaker 1: And this is the tweet from this guy, Joe Hanneman 339 00:24:31,115 --> 00:24:36,635 Speaker 1: of The Blaze quote, Brian Cole Junior is no physical 340 00:24:36,715 --> 00:24:40,955 Speaker 1: match for the hoodie clad pipe bomb suspect, a Blaze 341 00:24:41,155 --> 00:24:48,355 Speaker 1: News analysis finds. Watch for part three of our series unquote. 342 00:24:48,395 --> 00:24:53,075 Speaker 1: This was accompanied by a series of literally stick figures, 343 00:24:54,275 --> 00:24:57,875 Speaker 1: stick figures, straight lines drawn on top of silhouettes of 344 00:24:57,955 --> 00:25:03,195 Speaker 1: the security video and of this guy they arrested. Stick figures, 345 00:25:03,235 --> 00:25:10,955 Speaker 1: you know, like like stick figures. I'd also like to 346 00:25:10,995 --> 00:25:15,595 Speaker 1: call your attention to the phrase a Blaze News analysis. 347 00:25:16,675 --> 00:25:20,955 Speaker 1: The Blaze is Glenn Beck's website, and Glenn is many things, 348 00:25:21,155 --> 00:25:25,915 Speaker 1: paranoid brain damage from decades of drugs, and really really 349 00:25:26,355 --> 00:25:30,995 Speaker 1: baseline dim. But most of all, he is stubborn. He 350 00:25:31,035 --> 00:25:33,675 Speaker 1: is stubborn in a way exceeded, maybe only by Trump. 351 00:25:34,595 --> 00:25:37,875 Speaker 1: Glenn Beck, the personification of Lonesome Roads from the classic 352 00:25:37,915 --> 00:25:41,675 Speaker 1: film Face in the Crowd, will go to his grave 353 00:25:41,795 --> 00:25:45,235 Speaker 1: absolutely convinced, among other things, that the murals in the 354 00:25:45,275 --> 00:25:50,115 Speaker 1: lobby of thirty Rock, most of which feature people harvesting wheat, 355 00:25:50,595 --> 00:25:53,795 Speaker 1: are actually some kind of activation signals for a communist 356 00:25:53,915 --> 00:25:58,715 Speaker 1: uprising in this country. Only after all the brain damage. 357 00:25:58,755 --> 00:26:02,675 Speaker 1: He pronounced the word wheat like the word weed. And 358 00:26:02,715 --> 00:26:05,595 Speaker 1: he once did half of a show to tell of 359 00:26:05,635 --> 00:26:09,835 Speaker 1: the murals, and as he did this, he said, what 360 00:26:09,955 --> 00:26:14,675 Speaker 1: sounded like there's weed over there, and there's weed over there, 361 00:26:14,955 --> 00:26:18,515 Speaker 1: and there's more weed over there. And I said, oh 362 00:26:18,515 --> 00:26:20,715 Speaker 1: my god, let's get down to the lobby. Apparently there's 363 00:26:20,755 --> 00:26:26,235 Speaker 1: weed everywhere. So he's going to prove the January sixth 364 00:26:26,235 --> 00:26:32,595 Speaker 1: pipe bomber was, I don't know. I don't know Greta 365 00:26:32,635 --> 00:26:34,795 Speaker 1: van Sustern. I don't know who he's got in mind. 366 00:26:34,915 --> 00:26:38,235 Speaker 1: I really don't. It's not Greta van Sustern. By the way, 367 00:26:38,835 --> 00:26:43,115 Speaker 1: the runner up worser CNN and Scott Jennings. You know Jennings, 368 00:26:43,155 --> 00:26:45,955 Speaker 1: the former Mitch McConnell staffer and Trump bully who appears 369 00:26:45,955 --> 00:26:49,555 Speaker 1: on the CNN primetime show CNN blows up forty five 370 00:26:49,635 --> 00:26:53,155 Speaker 1: years of it's hard fought journalistic respect with Abby Phillip. 371 00:26:54,155 --> 00:26:57,155 Speaker 1: Scott Jennings is the jackass who mugs to the camera 372 00:26:57,555 --> 00:27:00,635 Speaker 1: while others talk, just stares at the camera and makes 373 00:27:00,755 --> 00:27:05,035 Speaker 1: scrunchy faces, exactly like Kermit the Frog. He's the guy 374 00:27:05,035 --> 00:27:08,395 Speaker 1: who threatened the careers of people who did not genuflect 375 00:27:08,435 --> 00:27:12,355 Speaker 1: after the indefensible murder of Charlie Kirk. I then suggested 376 00:27:12,515 --> 00:27:15,715 Speaker 1: his career jennings career would be the next to end, 377 00:27:15,715 --> 00:27:17,915 Speaker 1: and I phrased it poorly, could have sounded like I 378 00:27:17,995 --> 00:27:22,115 Speaker 1: was threatening him, So I immediately deleted the post, apologized for it, 379 00:27:22,155 --> 00:27:25,235 Speaker 1: and posted a clearer version, and he immediately responded to 380 00:27:25,275 --> 00:27:30,115 Speaker 1: that kind of smart thing. I think it was on 381 00:27:30,155 --> 00:27:32,955 Speaker 1: my part. He immediately decided to try to martyr himself 382 00:27:32,955 --> 00:27:37,395 Speaker 1: with MAGA by actually telling the FBI I had threatened 383 00:27:37,395 --> 00:27:41,875 Speaker 1: to kill him that Scott Jennings, well, on top of 384 00:27:41,875 --> 00:27:45,235 Speaker 1: everything else, apparently he's faking all of it. Miles Taylor, 385 00:27:45,275 --> 00:27:48,515 Speaker 1: the former Trump staffer anonymous from the first go round. 386 00:27:48,715 --> 00:27:52,315 Speaker 1: Who to be fair also participates in this same CNN 387 00:27:52,435 --> 00:27:58,195 Speaker 1: shit show, The CNN Shit Show with Abby Philip writes, quote, 388 00:27:58,835 --> 00:28:02,555 Speaker 1: you know who's a perfect metaphor for the GOP. Scott Jennings, 389 00:28:02,755 --> 00:28:05,635 Speaker 1: a pundit who mocks Trump with us during the commercial breaks, 390 00:28:05,875 --> 00:28:07,915 Speaker 1: but fawns over at Trump when the comerk of the 391 00:28:07,955 --> 00:28:11,315 Speaker 1: camera is rolling, brave enough to speak out in the 392 00:28:11,355 --> 00:28:16,635 Speaker 1: green room, Maga is furious, demanding Jennings sue Taylor to 393 00:28:16,715 --> 00:28:20,355 Speaker 1: prove it's a lie. So far, no suit, no demand 394 00:28:20,355 --> 00:28:24,155 Speaker 1: for a retraction, not even a reply. And oddly, Jennings 395 00:28:24,195 --> 00:28:27,555 Speaker 1: also has not called the FBI, insisting Miles Taylor threatened 396 00:28:27,555 --> 00:28:31,555 Speaker 1: to kill him. For context, I did a PBS show 397 00:28:31,595 --> 00:28:35,555 Speaker 1: once with Maggie Haberman and the Eternal Republican strategist and 398 00:28:35,595 --> 00:28:39,315 Speaker 1: campaign runner Ed Rollins and jud Appatow as the host, 399 00:28:39,835 --> 00:28:44,155 Speaker 1: and I suggested that Trump was nuts, literally not figuratively. 400 00:28:44,195 --> 00:28:47,035 Speaker 1: This was before almost anybody else had suggested that the 401 00:28:47,115 --> 00:28:51,715 Speaker 1: root cause here was psychological disturbance. We taped the program 402 00:28:52,195 --> 00:28:56,115 Speaker 1: at Bloomberg. Mike's were removed and Ed Rollins, who had 403 00:28:56,155 --> 00:28:59,595 Speaker 1: scoffed at my assertion and at all of my criticism 404 00:28:59,635 --> 00:29:02,435 Speaker 1: of Trump said, you and I have always had our 405 00:29:02,435 --> 00:29:04,355 Speaker 1: policy differences, but I have to tell you, Keith, you 406 00:29:04,435 --> 00:29:08,995 Speaker 1: are right. Trump is nuts. This was on February thirteenth, 407 00:29:09,035 --> 00:29:12,995 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, so essentially the most important part of this, 408 00:29:13,515 --> 00:29:16,315 Speaker 1: what Miles Taylor is saying is true. Most of the 409 00:29:16,355 --> 00:29:20,835 Speaker 1: people pimping for Trump out there are lying. On top 410 00:29:20,875 --> 00:29:24,315 Speaker 1: of everything else, they're lying. There are a few true believers. 411 00:29:24,355 --> 00:29:26,875 Speaker 1: You can tell them because they're the really stupid ones, 412 00:29:27,075 --> 00:29:34,955 Speaker 1: like our winner, the congresswoman Lauren Bobert. Parentheses are only fans, 413 00:29:35,475 --> 00:29:42,475 Speaker 1: and parentheses your hands on representative Colorado. There are self owns, 414 00:29:42,835 --> 00:29:47,475 Speaker 1: and then there are self monopolies. I guess Bobert with 415 00:29:47,515 --> 00:29:49,715 Speaker 1: a video of herself attached to it, in which she 416 00:29:49,835 --> 00:29:52,555 Speaker 1: is so overly made up that it exceeded dating app 417 00:29:52,595 --> 00:29:55,275 Speaker 1: proportions and looked more like she was applying to play 418 00:29:55,395 --> 00:29:59,555 Speaker 1: Christy Nome in the road tour of Iran DHS. Till 419 00:29:59,595 --> 00:30:03,395 Speaker 1: they caught me. She writes, quote, you can't make this 420 00:30:03,515 --> 00:30:06,435 Speaker 1: staff app, I say, agents show up at airports and 421 00:30:06,475 --> 00:30:10,035 Speaker 1: suddenly TSA. Wayne Times in Minneapolis dropped to lass than 422 00:30:10,115 --> 00:30:16,275 Speaker 1: five minutes called it. Pro tip never write you can't 423 00:30:16,315 --> 00:30:19,115 Speaker 1: make this stuff up when you are in fact making 424 00:30:19,155 --> 00:30:22,515 Speaker 1: this stuff up. Whatever use Ice may have been at 425 00:30:22,515 --> 00:30:25,795 Speaker 1: the airports, And once again, why did Maggot think Democrats 426 00:30:25,795 --> 00:30:30,475 Speaker 1: would be angry that the ICE terrorists would be unmasked 427 00:30:30,915 --> 00:30:34,275 Speaker 1: and in a confined space where we could see them, 428 00:30:34,955 --> 00:30:38,915 Speaker 1: and they really couldn't do anything besides drink coffee and 429 00:30:39,035 --> 00:30:41,475 Speaker 1: show off how out of shape they are. Then they 430 00:30:41,515 --> 00:30:45,435 Speaker 1: couldn't shoot unarmed protesters. Whatever use Ice may have been 431 00:30:45,475 --> 00:30:50,155 Speaker 1: at the airport, in sports pointing they were not at 432 00:30:50,355 --> 00:30:53,555 Speaker 1: Minneapolis Saint Paul International, not at all. There were no 433 00:30:54,195 --> 00:30:58,115 Speaker 1: Ice deployed to Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport. Lauren Bobert 434 00:30:58,155 --> 00:31:01,955 Speaker 1: just just made it up suddenly. Anthony Wayne Times in 435 00:31:01,995 --> 00:31:05,555 Speaker 1: Minneapolis Captain Lancet in five minutes called it but even 436 00:31:05,675 --> 00:31:09,035 Speaker 1: caught making it up, and she got community noted. Bobert 437 00:31:09,075 --> 00:31:11,595 Speaker 1: refused to correct herself or even delete the tweet. She 438 00:31:11,755 --> 00:31:17,555 Speaker 1: just held on harder grasp the nettle, so to speak, 439 00:31:17,915 --> 00:31:22,635 Speaker 1: decided to finish the job. Called out by fittingly Minnesota 440 00:31:22,635 --> 00:31:26,675 Speaker 1: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for making it up, Bobert then wrote, 441 00:31:26,955 --> 00:31:30,195 Speaker 1: I never said Ice was at Minneapolis Saint Paul and 442 00:31:30,235 --> 00:31:34,315 Speaker 1: then added a series of slanders for which Congresswoman Omar 443 00:31:34,355 --> 00:31:38,875 Speaker 1: should sue the pants off Lauren Bobert, like you had 444 00:31:38,915 --> 00:31:42,715 Speaker 1: to sue to do that, Lauren, try to get your 445 00:31:42,795 --> 00:31:46,235 Speaker 1: high school equivalency certificate before you become a great great grandmother, 446 00:31:46,275 --> 00:31:50,355 Speaker 1: would you and get a grip on yourself? Bobert Today's 447 00:31:50,395 --> 00:32:24,755 Speaker 1: other worst person in the world. I thought I could 448 00:32:24,755 --> 00:32:27,275 Speaker 1: see it through the swinging kitchen door of the Il 449 00:32:27,355 --> 00:32:31,035 Speaker 1: Vagabondo restaurant on East sixty second Street in New York. 450 00:32:31,955 --> 00:32:34,995 Speaker 1: What I thought I saw seemed to be an extraordinarily 451 00:32:35,315 --> 00:32:39,875 Speaker 1: large man standing over one of the large kitchen sinks, 452 00:32:40,395 --> 00:32:44,035 Speaker 1: holding one of the kitchen's big flexible rubber water hoses 453 00:32:45,235 --> 00:32:49,275 Speaker 1: and drinking from it. It was an unusual enough site, 454 00:32:49,635 --> 00:32:53,475 Speaker 1: but there was also a complication. That extraordinarily large man 455 00:32:53,555 --> 00:32:56,275 Speaker 1: was one of my dinner guests, and his name was 456 00:32:56,355 --> 00:33:00,475 Speaker 1: Gene Upshaw, the just retired offensive guard of the Oakland 457 00:33:00,555 --> 00:33:04,595 Speaker 1: Raiders and president of the National Football League Players Association. 458 00:33:05,755 --> 00:33:08,835 Speaker 1: Jane was six foot five, two hundred and sixty pounds, 459 00:33:09,195 --> 00:33:12,555 Speaker 1: but he seemed much larger than that if he wanted 460 00:33:12,555 --> 00:33:14,635 Speaker 1: to drink out of one of the giant kitchen hoses. 461 00:33:14,875 --> 00:33:17,515 Speaker 1: I wasn't going to stop him, nor was anybody in 462 00:33:17,555 --> 00:33:21,875 Speaker 1: the kitchen, nor was everybody combined on East sixty second Street, 463 00:33:21,915 --> 00:33:24,435 Speaker 1: nor was anybody in the city on that Saturday night 464 00:33:24,475 --> 00:33:29,475 Speaker 1: so long ago. Two nights later, Jean and the executive 465 00:33:29,515 --> 00:33:32,955 Speaker 1: director of the National Football League Players Association Ed Garvey, 466 00:33:33,035 --> 00:33:36,755 Speaker 1: and its outside council Chip Yablonski, would officially take their 467 00:33:36,875 --> 00:33:40,915 Speaker 1: union out on the last successful strike in pro football 468 00:33:41,475 --> 00:33:44,235 Speaker 1: and introduced to the entire world of sports what was then, 469 00:33:44,275 --> 00:33:47,435 Speaker 1: and I literally mean then that evening on CNN, just 470 00:33:47,515 --> 00:33:49,555 Speaker 1: before our trip to the restaurant whose kitchen hose Gen 471 00:33:49,635 --> 00:33:52,915 Speaker 1: was now drinking at him would then introduced to sports 472 00:33:52,955 --> 00:33:56,235 Speaker 1: what was then described by a nationally prominent sports writer 473 00:33:56,595 --> 00:34:02,315 Speaker 1: live on TV as quote communism. Executive director Garvey had 474 00:34:02,355 --> 00:34:04,595 Speaker 1: proposed a deal with the owners that would be base 475 00:34:04,875 --> 00:34:08,635 Speaker 1: on giving the players a percentage of gross income fifty 476 00:34:08,675 --> 00:34:12,875 Speaker 1: five cents out of every dollar taken in by football. 477 00:34:13,755 --> 00:34:15,715 Speaker 1: It would be given to the players and within a 478 00:34:15,755 --> 00:34:19,635 Speaker 1: structure allowing for individual players to negotiate individual contracts. The 479 00:34:19,675 --> 00:34:22,275 Speaker 1: players would basically figure out how the rest of their 480 00:34:22,315 --> 00:34:25,195 Speaker 1: fifty five percent would be divvied up among them. The 481 00:34:25,235 --> 00:34:27,835 Speaker 1: owners would keep forty five percent and divvy it up 482 00:34:27,875 --> 00:34:31,915 Speaker 1: any way they wanted to. Today, this is the basis 483 00:34:31,995 --> 00:34:36,235 Speaker 1: of the contract offers made by the sports owners to 484 00:34:36,395 --> 00:34:40,235 Speaker 1: the players Union. But in nineteen eighty two, on September eighteenth, 485 00:34:40,355 --> 00:34:43,115 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, live on CNN with me as host, 486 00:34:43,395 --> 00:34:48,715 Speaker 1: this was called communism by the Atlanta Journal Constitution sportswriter 487 00:34:48,835 --> 00:34:51,515 Speaker 1: Furman Bischer, whom I had been reading since I was 488 00:34:51,555 --> 00:34:54,355 Speaker 1: a kid. Bisher was one of the guests in a 489 00:34:54,395 --> 00:34:57,355 Speaker 1: special show which I anchored from New York with Garvey 490 00:34:57,435 --> 00:35:00,635 Speaker 1: and Upshaw in the studio with me. Bisher went further. 491 00:35:01,155 --> 00:35:05,555 Speaker 1: He called Garvy a communist, and I apologize. Then Garby said, 492 00:35:05,915 --> 00:35:09,995 Speaker 1: I've been called worse today. This was why we were 493 00:35:10,035 --> 00:35:13,195 Speaker 1: all out to dinner at Il Vagabondo, an Italian restaurant 494 00:35:13,275 --> 00:35:16,795 Speaker 1: so Italian that there was a BATCHI ball court in 495 00:35:16,875 --> 00:35:20,995 Speaker 1: the middle of the main dining room. Our CNN executive 496 00:35:20,995 --> 00:35:23,075 Speaker 1: sports producer Rick Davis had said that if I could 497 00:35:23,115 --> 00:35:25,675 Speaker 1: talk Garvey and Upshaw into going on our show on 498 00:35:25,715 --> 00:35:29,475 Speaker 1: a Saturday, I could take them out to dinner. He added, no, 499 00:35:29,635 --> 00:35:32,955 Speaker 1: and I mean it a nice restaurant. Garvey had already 500 00:35:32,955 --> 00:35:34,915 Speaker 1: turned into a great source and a great friend with 501 00:35:34,955 --> 00:35:37,035 Speaker 1: whom I would stay in touch for thirty five years. 502 00:35:37,475 --> 00:35:39,715 Speaker 1: The day before he had matter of fact, he told me, 503 00:35:40,435 --> 00:35:44,675 Speaker 1: and only me, a sports reporter from an obscure TV 504 00:35:44,755 --> 00:35:48,795 Speaker 1: cable network called CNN, that when the union's executive council 505 00:35:48,955 --> 00:35:51,715 Speaker 1: met the following Monday, that there was only one option 506 00:35:51,915 --> 00:35:56,795 Speaker 1: on its table, a strike. This was a huge scoop. Later, 507 00:35:56,875 --> 00:35:58,635 Speaker 1: Garvey would tell me that the union had made a 508 00:35:58,675 --> 00:36:01,155 Speaker 1: deal with Ted Turner, who happened to own my network. 509 00:36:01,435 --> 00:36:03,875 Speaker 1: If the union could get the National Labor Relations Board 510 00:36:03,915 --> 00:36:06,475 Speaker 1: to rule that the owners had forced that strike, the 511 00:36:06,595 --> 00:36:09,475 Speaker 1: union would be entitled to break all its contracts with 512 00:36:09,515 --> 00:36:12,995 Speaker 1: the National Football League and sign a new deal where 513 00:36:12,995 --> 00:36:16,435 Speaker 1: the players and Ted Turner would co own all of 514 00:36:16,475 --> 00:36:20,035 Speaker 1: professional football in this country. What'd you like to do 515 00:36:20,075 --> 00:36:23,875 Speaker 1: play by play? Ed said, it didn't happen, obviously, but 516 00:36:24,035 --> 00:36:26,395 Speaker 1: that also was a great scoop, and they tried it 517 00:36:26,435 --> 00:36:29,955 Speaker 1: out in miniature. They played two glorified pickup games, one 518 00:36:30,035 --> 00:36:33,195 Speaker 1: at the LA Coliseum, one at RFK Stadium in Washington 519 00:36:33,275 --> 00:36:37,995 Speaker 1: under the greatest sports league acronym of all time, All 520 00:36:38,035 --> 00:36:45,035 Speaker 1: Star Season yep ASS. It was also Ed Garvey. A 521 00:36:45,075 --> 00:36:47,395 Speaker 1: month later, in the middle of a press blackout imposed 522 00:36:47,395 --> 00:36:50,315 Speaker 1: by the National Labor Relations Board mediator, who sneaked into 523 00:36:50,355 --> 00:36:53,395 Speaker 1: my hotel room outside of Baltimore and gave me an 524 00:36:53,395 --> 00:36:57,955 Speaker 1: exclusive interview. Anyway, Garvey arrived just after a housekeeper had 525 00:36:58,035 --> 00:37:01,155 Speaker 1: knocked on my room door, and without waiting for an answer, 526 00:37:01,235 --> 00:37:05,755 Speaker 1: had entered. That housekeeper saw the following scene, me in 527 00:37:05,795 --> 00:37:09,515 Speaker 1: a suit sitting on a chair, the CNN cameraman sitting 528 00:37:09,555 --> 00:37:12,515 Speaker 1: at a table with his big bulky camera and tripod, 529 00:37:12,995 --> 00:37:15,755 Speaker 1: and the videotape deck operator, who happened to be a 530 00:37:15,755 --> 00:37:20,835 Speaker 1: woman lounging atop my still unmade bed watching her favorite 531 00:37:20,875 --> 00:37:25,715 Speaker 1: soap opera on TV. The housekeeper took one look, literally 532 00:37:25,755 --> 00:37:29,795 Speaker 1: shouted Lordie, and she backed out of the room, nearly 533 00:37:29,875 --> 00:37:34,315 Speaker 1: knocking down ed Garvey in the process. Later in the strike, 534 00:37:34,355 --> 00:37:37,355 Speaker 1: the mediator quit the talks one night, and the owner's 535 00:37:37,355 --> 00:37:39,835 Speaker 1: guy also walked out, leaving Ed Garvey and the players 536 00:37:40,075 --> 00:37:43,515 Speaker 1: by themselves. I sat Garvey down for another interview, and 537 00:37:43,555 --> 00:37:46,155 Speaker 1: I asked him, will the absence of the media and 538 00:37:46,195 --> 00:37:50,435 Speaker 1: the league's negotiator make any tangible difference in the negotiations? 539 00:37:51,115 --> 00:37:56,395 Speaker 1: And Garvey laughed without interruption for ninety seconds Gene Upshaw, 540 00:37:56,435 --> 00:37:58,315 Speaker 1: who in telling this story I have left in the 541 00:37:58,395 --> 00:38:00,715 Speaker 1: kitchen drinking from the hose all this time, and it's 542 00:38:01,515 --> 00:38:03,955 Speaker 1: actually almost how long he did drink from the hose. 543 00:38:05,715 --> 00:38:08,635 Speaker 1: He was just as good a friend and a source, whip, smart, 544 00:38:08,675 --> 00:38:11,795 Speaker 1: and often too honest for his own good. Five years later, 545 00:38:11,955 --> 00:38:14,395 Speaker 1: when he had succeeded Garvey as executive director and the 546 00:38:14,395 --> 00:38:17,435 Speaker 1: players again went on strike against the NFL, I had 547 00:38:17,475 --> 00:38:20,435 Speaker 1: a tip that the strike was collapsing because the owners 548 00:38:20,475 --> 00:38:23,955 Speaker 1: had brought in scab players and they kept playing games anyway. 549 00:38:24,395 --> 00:38:26,355 Speaker 1: I called a lawyer I knew in the union, and 550 00:38:26,395 --> 00:38:28,355 Speaker 1: he was hemming and hawing when I heard him say, wait, 551 00:38:28,435 --> 00:38:31,355 Speaker 1: Gene wants to talk to you. All Gene Upshaw did 552 00:38:31,555 --> 00:38:35,835 Speaker 1: was off the record confirm that the strike had indeed collapsed, 553 00:38:35,835 --> 00:38:38,155 Speaker 1: and he expected lots of union players to cross the 554 00:38:38,155 --> 00:38:42,155 Speaker 1: picket lines the next morning. I said, I can use this. 555 00:38:42,715 --> 00:38:44,755 Speaker 1: He said, You've always been honest with me. The least 556 00:38:44,795 --> 00:38:46,955 Speaker 1: I can do is be honest with you. Matter of fact. 557 00:38:46,995 --> 00:38:50,115 Speaker 1: You can say high placed union sources told you, Ah, 558 00:38:50,115 --> 00:38:52,675 Speaker 1: screw it. You can quote me, Keith. But wait till 559 00:38:52,715 --> 00:38:56,355 Speaker 1: after midnight my time. I got to call these guys Unfortunately, 560 00:38:56,355 --> 00:38:58,755 Speaker 1: this meant that when I interviewed the now Los Angeles 561 00:38:58,835 --> 00:39:01,595 Speaker 1: Raiders team union rep live on TV a few hours 562 00:39:01,675 --> 00:39:03,995 Speaker 1: later in Los Angeles and I asked him if the 563 00:39:03,995 --> 00:39:06,395 Speaker 1: strike was in its final hours, he said no, and 564 00:39:06,475 --> 00:39:10,075 Speaker 1: I said he kind of is. And it was the 565 00:39:10,115 --> 00:39:13,715 Speaker 1: head of his union who had told me so. Anyway, 566 00:39:13,715 --> 00:39:16,235 Speaker 1: that night at il Vagabondo, Upshaw and Garvey and Chip 567 00:39:16,355 --> 00:39:18,875 Speaker 1: Yablonsky told me twenty stories I would have killed to 568 00:39:18,955 --> 00:39:21,595 Speaker 1: use that night, but they were all off the record. 569 00:39:21,955 --> 00:39:23,555 Speaker 1: I think I can mention a couple of them now, 570 00:39:23,595 --> 00:39:28,835 Speaker 1: since it's Check's watch. Forty years later, at one bargaining session, 571 00:39:28,875 --> 00:39:32,275 Speaker 1: one of the league's lawyers, Vince Lombardi Junior, was arguing 572 00:39:32,315 --> 00:39:34,955 Speaker 1: with one of the player bargainers, linebacker Stan White of 573 00:39:34,955 --> 00:39:38,675 Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions, who was also a lawyer. The players 574 00:39:38,675 --> 00:39:40,795 Speaker 1: were asking for something that is still a bone of 575 00:39:40,795 --> 00:39:43,795 Speaker 1: contention between the two sides, full access to their own 576 00:39:44,235 --> 00:39:48,835 Speaker 1: team medical personal records. Vince Lombardi Junior looked at White 577 00:39:48,875 --> 00:39:50,355 Speaker 1: and said, what are you going to do with them? 578 00:39:50,395 --> 00:39:52,075 Speaker 1: Even if we gave them to you, You guys are 579 00:39:52,115 --> 00:39:55,595 Speaker 1: too stupid to understand them. At that point, White, who 580 00:39:55,715 --> 00:39:58,235 Speaker 1: might have been a lawyer but was also still a linebacker, 581 00:39:58,555 --> 00:40:00,995 Speaker 1: leaped over the bargaining table and tried to get his 582 00:40:01,075 --> 00:40:05,715 Speaker 1: hands around Lombardi's throat. We also a few hours of 583 00:40:05,835 --> 00:40:09,755 Speaker 1: shared insults about top NFL announcers and executives and players, 584 00:40:10,115 --> 00:40:13,435 Speaker 1: and a good deal of wine at this dinner, and periodically, 585 00:40:13,435 --> 00:40:15,995 Speaker 1: when there were no more breadsticks at the table, or 586 00:40:16,075 --> 00:40:18,835 Speaker 1: antipasto at the table, or water at the table, gin 587 00:40:18,915 --> 00:40:21,475 Speaker 1: Upshaw would simply get up and go into the kitchen 588 00:40:21,635 --> 00:40:25,275 Speaker 1: and get it himself. When the evening was over, my 589 00:40:25,395 --> 00:40:29,315 Speaker 1: diary notes that we had spent for four men, four 590 00:40:29,715 --> 00:40:33,355 Speaker 1: large men, of whom I was the smallest, with wine, 591 00:40:33,835 --> 00:40:37,035 Speaker 1: with a generous tip at a top New York restaurant 592 00:40:37,395 --> 00:40:42,635 Speaker 1: on CNN's dime. The staggering figure of one hundred and 593 00:40:42,635 --> 00:40:46,755 Speaker 1: fifty five dollars still translates only to about four hundred 594 00:40:46,755 --> 00:40:50,515 Speaker 1: and seventy bucks today. It was a lot of money 595 00:40:50,555 --> 00:40:54,875 Speaker 1: then CNN was paying me twenty six thousand dollars a year. Anyway, 596 00:40:54,915 --> 00:40:57,315 Speaker 1: we all walked out into a lovely New York September 597 00:40:57,355 --> 00:41:00,595 Speaker 1: Saturday night garby Pupshaw Yablonski were all staying in a 598 00:41:00,595 --> 00:41:02,915 Speaker 1: hotel not from where we had eaten, and not far 599 00:41:02,955 --> 00:41:05,835 Speaker 1: from where I lived, so I walked them back, and 600 00:41:05,995 --> 00:41:09,355 Speaker 1: Upshaw had one more immortal memory left to create. It 601 00:41:09,435 --> 00:41:11,315 Speaker 1: happened that he was on the cover of that week's 602 00:41:11,395 --> 00:41:14,515 Speaker 1: edition of Newsweek magazine, and as we passed one of 603 00:41:14,555 --> 00:41:18,595 Speaker 1: the old, ubiquitous Manhattan newsstands, which were just tiny shacks 604 00:41:18,635 --> 00:41:22,235 Speaker 1: on nearly every corner of the city, Jean leaned down 605 00:41:22,515 --> 00:41:25,795 Speaker 1: and into the little window through which the newsstand operator 606 00:41:25,835 --> 00:41:30,115 Speaker 1: peered out, and he said, politely but firmly, have you 607 00:41:30,195 --> 00:41:39,595 Speaker 1: got a copy of the one with me on the cover. 608 00:41:46,475 --> 00:41:48,515 Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank 609 00:41:48,555 --> 00:41:52,475 Speaker 1: you for listening. Someday sports owners will realize that they're 610 00:41:52,475 --> 00:41:57,195 Speaker 1: best friends in labor negotiations are the players. They're the 611 00:41:57,195 --> 00:42:00,795 Speaker 1: ones with the really good ideas. I know it doesn't 612 00:42:00,835 --> 00:42:03,555 Speaker 1: seem that way because they're the ones whose contracts and 613 00:42:03,675 --> 00:42:07,675 Speaker 1: salaries you read about, but just remember the owners are 614 00:42:07,755 --> 00:42:12,315 Speaker 1: only paying the players like, well, whatever they pay a guy, 615 00:42:12,355 --> 00:42:14,635 Speaker 1: if it's five hundred million dollars, it's because an owner 616 00:42:14,635 --> 00:42:16,715 Speaker 1: has calculated he's going to make five hundred and one 617 00:42:16,795 --> 00:42:19,795 Speaker 1: million dollars off the guy's work without lifting a finger. 618 00:42:21,115 --> 00:42:26,795 Speaker 1: Any who enough marks Our musical directors have countdown Er 619 00:42:26,875 --> 00:42:30,195 Speaker 1: John Phillips Schoneil on keyboards and handling orchestration, and Brian 620 00:42:30,315 --> 00:42:33,075 Speaker 1: Ray on guitars, bass and drums. Their work is produced 621 00:42:33,355 --> 00:42:37,515 Speaker 1: by Tko Brothers. Nancy Fauss, the best baseball stadium organist ever, 622 00:42:37,835 --> 00:42:41,755 Speaker 1: is responsible for the satirical and pithy musical comments. The 623 00:42:41,875 --> 00:42:46,035 Speaker 1: sports music is from the old Ulraman Show on ESPN two. 624 00:42:46,155 --> 00:42:48,995 Speaker 1: The theme was written by Mitch Warren Davis. It appears 625 00:42:49,035 --> 00:42:52,835 Speaker 1: courtesy of ESPN Inc. Other music arranged and performed by 626 00:42:52,835 --> 00:42:55,315 Speaker 1: the group No Horns Allowed. And my announcer today was 627 00:42:55,355 --> 00:43:00,995 Speaker 1: my friend Stevie van Zant. This program was produced by Ted. 628 00:43:01,635 --> 00:43:06,275 Speaker 1: Everything else was, as always my fault. So that's countdown 629 00:43:06,315 --> 00:43:09,435 Speaker 1: for today, Day four hundred and thirty one of America 630 00:43:09,475 --> 00:43:12,715 Speaker 1: held hostage again, just one thousand, thirty two days until 631 00:43:12,755 --> 00:43:15,235 Speaker 1: the scheduled end of his lame duck and lame brained 632 00:43:15,395 --> 00:43:20,075 Speaker 1: term unless he is removed sooner by Epstein and Iran 633 00:43:21,075 --> 00:43:25,635 Speaker 1: and the ghost of Elvis Presley in a fight. Thank you, 634 00:43:25,715 --> 00:43:29,875 Speaker 1: Thank you very much. The next scheduled countdown is Monday bulletins. 635 00:43:29,915 --> 00:43:32,395 Speaker 1: As the news merits until the next one. I'm Keith 636 00:43:32,395 --> 00:43:36,835 Speaker 1: Oldraman good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. 637 00:43:55,155 --> 00:43:59,115 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For 638 00:43:59,275 --> 00:44:04,155 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 639 00:44:04,395 --> 00:44:06,395 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.