1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:22,555 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Dementia J. 2 00:00:22,915 --> 00:00:29,435 Speaker 1: Trump really is dementia J. Trump in a jaw dropping development, 3 00:00:29,555 --> 00:00:33,235 Speaker 1: even for him, even for his declining acuity, even in 4 00:00:33,315 --> 00:00:38,915 Speaker 1: the vast fog of Trump. He has just endorsed two 5 00:00:39,755 --> 00:00:46,875 Speaker 1: rival candidates in the same congressional Republican primary Saturday night 6 00:00:47,635 --> 00:00:50,635 Speaker 1: the New York Young Republicans Club. Beau Hines is here. 7 00:00:50,675 --> 00:00:52,875 Speaker 2: He's going to be a congressman very shortly. 8 00:00:52,915 --> 00:00:59,795 Speaker 1: BOHINZ. Thank you. Saturday night, Trump endorsed beau Hines, hoping 9 00:00:59,835 --> 00:01:02,355 Speaker 1: to be chosen as the Republican running for North Carolina's 10 00:01:02,395 --> 00:01:06,635 Speaker 1: sixth congressional district. Yesterday three five pm, Trump writes, Addison 11 00:01:06,715 --> 00:01:09,955 Speaker 1: McDowell just announced he is running for North Carolina sixth 12 00:01:09,955 --> 00:01:16,555 Speaker 1: congressional district. Has my complete and total endorsement, unquote, except 13 00:01:16,595 --> 00:01:20,115 Speaker 1: for that stuff about bo Hines. He's going to be 14 00:01:20,155 --> 00:01:25,675 Speaker 1: a congressman very shortly, something Bohines tweeted out at least twice. 15 00:01:26,915 --> 00:01:29,675 Speaker 1: He's going to be a congressman very shortly. Bohines is, 16 00:01:29,995 --> 00:01:35,115 Speaker 1: as is Addison McDowell, on the same party ticket from 17 00:01:35,155 --> 00:01:39,395 Speaker 1: the same district, and for that matter, maybe also Christian 18 00:01:39,475 --> 00:01:42,075 Speaker 1: Costelli will be a congressman very shortly, also from the 19 00:01:42,115 --> 00:01:46,355 Speaker 1: North Carolina six, and Mary Ann Contogianis also also from 20 00:01:46,395 --> 00:01:49,035 Speaker 1: the North Carolina six. And Jay Wagner from the North 21 00:01:49,035 --> 00:01:52,355 Speaker 1: Carolina six and the favorite in the sixth Republican field, 22 00:01:52,675 --> 00:01:57,955 Speaker 1: former Congressman Mark Walker. I really thought he would endorse 23 00:01:58,195 --> 00:02:02,595 Speaker 1: conto Gianis. She's a plastic surgeon. There is plenty of 24 00:02:02,635 --> 00:02:05,435 Speaker 1: time for Trump to endorse her to yours, all six 25 00:02:05,475 --> 00:02:08,035 Speaker 1: of them, the primary till the fifth of March, you know, 26 00:02:08,115 --> 00:02:10,955 Speaker 1: the day after the election. Subversion trial is supposed to start. 27 00:02:11,635 --> 00:02:14,355 Speaker 1: More on that. In a moment eighty nine hours apart, 28 00:02:14,715 --> 00:02:21,355 Speaker 1: endorses one guy in public, endorses another guy online, same race, 29 00:02:21,715 --> 00:02:27,555 Speaker 1: but it's Biden who has cognitive problems. And as always, 30 00:02:28,275 --> 00:02:33,795 Speaker 1: wait there's more. The guy dementia j Trump endorsed, I 31 00:02:33,795 --> 00:02:37,395 Speaker 1: mean the second guy. He endorsed, McDowell. He has not 32 00:02:37,515 --> 00:02:42,595 Speaker 1: even officially announced his campaign or filed the paperwork, as 33 00:02:42,635 --> 00:02:45,395 Speaker 1: the Capitol Hill corresponded for the News and Observer of 34 00:02:45,475 --> 00:02:49,915 Speaker 1: Charlotte wrote it plainly but accurately. In a surprising move, Wednesday, 35 00:02:50,395 --> 00:02:53,755 Speaker 1: Trump announced his support in a North Carolina congressional race 36 00:02:54,515 --> 00:03:00,155 Speaker 1: for a candidate who hadn't publicly announced a campaign. This 37 00:03:00,475 --> 00:03:05,955 Speaker 1: should stop being a surprise and should stop being something 38 00:03:06,315 --> 00:03:11,115 Speaker 1: you only hear about on this podcast. The man is 39 00:03:11,275 --> 00:03:17,235 Speaker 1: mentally impaired, declining fast. He doesn't know which number World 40 00:03:17,355 --> 00:03:21,435 Speaker 1: war the next World war would be. He continually confuses 41 00:03:21,475 --> 00:03:24,475 Speaker 1: Obama for Biden. He doesn't know what city he's in. 42 00:03:24,715 --> 00:03:27,915 Speaker 1: He thinks Hungary's victor orbon is the dictator of Turkey. 43 00:03:28,115 --> 00:03:31,395 Speaker 1: And this is actor He started with anyone or more 44 00:03:31,635 --> 00:03:35,475 Speaker 1: of a dozen different psychological and maybe physiological problems that 45 00:03:35,555 --> 00:03:38,955 Speaker 1: could be summarized under the heading his brain don't work 46 00:03:39,115 --> 00:03:40,635 Speaker 1: right with your vote. 47 00:03:40,395 --> 00:03:43,515 Speaker 2: By Christmas, and we're going to have it by Christmas 48 00:03:43,515 --> 00:03:46,955 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, that's just shortly after the election. Because 49 00:03:46,995 --> 00:03:49,995 Speaker 2: of the momentum of our victory, we will have a 50 00:03:50,195 --> 00:03:51,955 Speaker 2: unis economy roaring back. 51 00:03:52,275 --> 00:03:54,875 Speaker 1: It is not just a question of what Trump would 52 00:03:54,955 --> 00:03:58,715 Speaker 1: do that he wanted to do but thought he couldn't 53 00:03:58,715 --> 00:04:01,835 Speaker 1: get away with the first time. It is also a 54 00:04:01,915 --> 00:04:05,115 Speaker 1: question of what Trump would do that he would know 55 00:04:05,275 --> 00:04:12,435 Speaker 1: he was doing out of sheer mental incapacitation, like endorsing 56 00:04:12,515 --> 00:04:19,915 Speaker 1: two candidates in the same race within eighty nine hours 57 00:04:20,475 --> 00:04:22,675 Speaker 1: on the legal front, and I'm sad to say this 58 00:04:22,755 --> 00:04:25,915 Speaker 1: is yet to include somebody moving against Trump under Florida's 59 00:04:25,955 --> 00:04:29,275 Speaker 1: Baker Act, which says that anyone can be forced to 60 00:04:29,355 --> 00:04:34,555 Speaker 1: undergo involuntary examination if three things are true. One quote, 61 00:04:34,595 --> 00:04:37,515 Speaker 1: they are mentally or emotionally impaired to the extent they 62 00:04:37,515 --> 00:04:41,995 Speaker 1: cannot control their own actions or understand reality. Well, yeah, 63 00:04:42,075 --> 00:04:47,275 Speaker 1: since nineteen forty six. Two quote, they have refused voluntary examination, 64 00:04:47,395 --> 00:04:50,195 Speaker 1: or because of a mental illness, they cannot understand that 65 00:04:50,235 --> 00:04:55,435 Speaker 1: an examination is necessary. Uh, person, woman, man, camera TV. 66 00:04:55,715 --> 00:05:00,315 Speaker 1: I aced it. And three quote Without treatment, they may 67 00:05:00,355 --> 00:05:06,315 Speaker 1: suffer personal neglect or may cause harm to themselves or others. Wow, 68 00:05:06,715 --> 00:05:10,915 Speaker 1: three for three, one hundred percent, mister Trump, you aste it. 69 00:05:13,115 --> 00:05:16,395 Speaker 1: On the legal front, it may be time for Jacksmith 70 00:05:16,435 --> 00:05:19,355 Speaker 1: to drop one of the charges against Trump in the 71 00:05:19,395 --> 00:05:23,755 Speaker 1: election stealing case eighteen US Code fifteen oh five obstruction 72 00:05:23,995 --> 00:05:27,515 Speaker 1: of an official proceeding, because I'm beginning to suspect that 73 00:05:27,555 --> 00:05:30,635 Speaker 1: even this corrupt and compromised Supreme Court will not have 74 00:05:30,675 --> 00:05:34,595 Speaker 1: the blindness to send the country into virtual revolution by 75 00:05:34,635 --> 00:05:37,395 Speaker 1: agreeing with Trump that he and all presidents are cloaked 76 00:05:37,475 --> 00:05:40,235 Speaker 1: by something that he and his lawyers and maybe his 77 00:05:40,355 --> 00:05:46,675 Speaker 1: doctors dreamed up called presidential immunity, but they have now 78 00:05:46,675 --> 00:05:49,395 Speaker 1: announced the Supreme Court that is that they will hear 79 00:05:49,515 --> 00:05:53,595 Speaker 1: an appeal of a case in which Joseph Fisher was 80 00:05:53,715 --> 00:05:57,995 Speaker 1: convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding for pushing up 81 00:05:57,995 --> 00:06:01,315 Speaker 1: against Capitol police on January sixth and encouraging others to 82 00:06:01,595 --> 00:06:05,035 Speaker 1: enter the capitol, and Fisher appealed and his mouth Jesus 83 00:06:05,075 --> 00:06:08,235 Speaker 1: argued that the statute has only ever been applied to 84 00:06:08,315 --> 00:06:11,795 Speaker 1: the destruction of documents, and that he was convicted on 85 00:06:11,835 --> 00:06:14,115 Speaker 1: the charge even though the DOJ did not even contend 86 00:06:14,115 --> 00:06:20,075 Speaker 1: he hoped to destroy any actual electoral votes. One Trump 87 00:06:20,115 --> 00:06:24,435 Speaker 1: appointed judge has agreed with him. Literally dozens of other 88 00:06:24,555 --> 00:06:29,075 Speaker 1: judges hearing Fisher's case and the three hundred and twenty 89 00:06:29,115 --> 00:06:33,075 Speaker 1: six other January sixth insurrectionists convicted of obstruction of an 90 00:06:33,075 --> 00:06:36,875 Speaker 1: official proceeding, including the three court panel to which DOJ 91 00:06:37,115 --> 00:06:40,755 Speaker 1: appealed the verdict for Fisher and against obstruction of an 92 00:06:40,755 --> 00:06:45,275 Speaker 1: official preceding. All of those judges, dozens of them ruled 93 00:06:45,315 --> 00:06:48,915 Speaker 1: against this claim, insisting it is a distinction without a difference, 94 00:06:49,315 --> 00:06:51,635 Speaker 1: and if the law applies to trying to obstruct an 95 00:06:51,675 --> 00:06:54,595 Speaker 1: official proceeding by tearing up paper. It sure as hell 96 00:06:54,715 --> 00:06:57,435 Speaker 1: also applies to trying to obstruct an official proceeding by 97 00:06:57,475 --> 00:07:01,915 Speaker 1: tearing up limbs, and especially by the way Trump did it. 98 00:07:03,715 --> 00:07:06,675 Speaker 1: And Jack Smith still should drop the charge because the 99 00:07:06,715 --> 00:07:10,555 Speaker 1: point isn't about what exactly eighteen US Code fifteen oh 100 00:07:10,635 --> 00:07:13,355 Speaker 1: five applies to and what it does not apply to. 101 00:07:13,715 --> 00:07:15,915 Speaker 1: It is that the Supreme Court is going to weigh 102 00:07:16,035 --> 00:07:20,635 Speaker 1: in and it can find for the DOJ and against Trump. 103 00:07:20,915 --> 00:07:23,995 Speaker 1: And that's still a win for Trump because it runs 104 00:07:24,035 --> 00:07:28,075 Speaker 1: out more of the clock January, February March April. When 105 00:07:28,115 --> 00:07:31,795 Speaker 1: will it rule? Jack Smith already showed he is aware 106 00:07:31,835 --> 00:07:34,955 Speaker 1: of this. He asked the Supreme Court to bypass appeals 107 00:07:35,035 --> 00:07:37,675 Speaker 1: rulings and decide immediately right now. Get it over with 108 00:07:37,755 --> 00:07:41,275 Speaker 1: about the presidential immunity nonsense. He should do the same here. 109 00:07:41,675 --> 00:07:46,755 Speaker 1: Drop obstruction of official proceeding, pursue conspiracy to defraud the 110 00:07:46,835 --> 00:07:51,155 Speaker 1: United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against 111 00:07:51,155 --> 00:07:54,915 Speaker 1: the right to vote and have one votes counted. Because 112 00:07:54,955 --> 00:07:59,715 Speaker 1: as it is, Judge Chutkin just paused all procedural deadlines 113 00:07:59,755 --> 00:08:02,555 Speaker 1: in the election stealing case because the DC Circuit Court 114 00:08:02,555 --> 00:08:05,955 Speaker 1: of Appeals and or the Supreme Court have not definitively 115 00:08:05,995 --> 00:08:08,635 Speaker 1: put a stake through the heart of this presidential immunity bullshit. 116 00:08:10,035 --> 00:08:14,955 Speaker 1: Just yesterday, Trump's lawyers John Lauro, Todd Blanche, John Sour 117 00:08:15,755 --> 00:08:20,155 Speaker 1: how many others? No men can count that high. His 118 00:08:20,275 --> 00:08:24,355 Speaker 1: lawyers resorted to complaining that the proposed trial schedule would 119 00:08:24,955 --> 00:08:31,035 Speaker 1: disrupt their family holiday and travel plans for Christmas and 120 00:08:31,195 --> 00:08:36,195 Speaker 1: New Years, like they wouldn't build Trump more for those hours, 121 00:08:36,235 --> 00:08:39,435 Speaker 1: and like they or any families they might might once 122 00:08:39,515 --> 00:08:43,195 Speaker 1: or might yet have, would care about Christmas if it 123 00:08:43,355 --> 00:08:48,315 Speaker 1: meant instead more billable hours at higher rates. Quote, it 124 00:08:48,435 --> 00:08:51,915 Speaker 1: is as if the Special Council growled with his grinch 125 00:08:52,035 --> 00:08:55,955 Speaker 1: fingers nervously drumming, I must find some way to keep 126 00:08:56,035 --> 00:09:02,915 Speaker 1: Christmas from coming. But how boys, your client just endorsed 127 00:09:02,915 --> 00:09:05,075 Speaker 1: two guys in the same race, and he's low by 128 00:09:05,115 --> 00:09:08,235 Speaker 1: his cult members because he's a sadist. Maybe you want 129 00:09:08,235 --> 00:09:13,075 Speaker 1: to drop any future references to the Grinch, though, Who 130 00:09:13,115 --> 00:09:18,635 Speaker 1: am I to tell you how to run up your bill? Seriously, 131 00:09:19,395 --> 00:09:23,595 Speaker 1: mister Special Counsel. The March fourth trial start d day, 132 00:09:23,635 --> 00:09:26,475 Speaker 1: the launch the launch of dementia j Trump into the 133 00:09:26,515 --> 00:09:30,595 Speaker 1: sun is already in jeopardy. The nation is on fire. 134 00:09:31,115 --> 00:09:34,555 Speaker 1: What matters is how much you can pull out of 135 00:09:34,595 --> 00:09:39,315 Speaker 1: the burning building in time, not that you try to 136 00:09:39,435 --> 00:09:46,875 Speaker 1: pull all of it out. Also, hey, Jim Jordan, who 137 00:09:46,875 --> 00:09:49,115 Speaker 1: defied a congressional subpoena as part of the crowd of 138 00:09:49,155 --> 00:09:52,795 Speaker 1: cowards threatening to prosecute Hunter Biden for defying a congressional subpoena. 139 00:09:54,275 --> 00:09:56,275 Speaker 1: Nancy Mace was just there and hope she'd get to 140 00:09:56,275 --> 00:09:57,635 Speaker 1: see more pictures of hunters. 141 00:09:57,755 --> 00:10:04,435 Speaker 3: Junk James Comer, Jim Jordan, Jason Smith, and their co 142 00:10:04,755 --> 00:10:09,635 Speaker 3: leagues have distorted the facts by cherry picking lines from 143 00:10:09,675 --> 00:10:14,995 Speaker 3: a bank statement, manipulating texts I sent, editing the testimony 144 00:10:15,075 --> 00:10:19,635 Speaker 3: of my friends and former business partners, and misstating personal 145 00:10:19,635 --> 00:10:24,075 Speaker 3: information that was stolen from me. There is no fairness 146 00:10:24,195 --> 00:10:31,035 Speaker 3: or decency in what these Republicans are doing. They have 147 00:10:31,195 --> 00:10:36,435 Speaker 3: lied over and over about every aspect of my personal 148 00:10:36,475 --> 00:10:40,555 Speaker 3: and professional life, so much so that their lies have 149 00:10:40,675 --> 00:10:46,355 Speaker 3: become the false facts believed by too many people. No 150 00:10:46,395 --> 00:10:49,595 Speaker 3: matter how many times it is debunked, they continue to 151 00:10:49,635 --> 00:10:53,635 Speaker 3: insist that my father's support of Ukraine against Russia is 152 00:10:53,675 --> 00:10:58,035 Speaker 3: the result of a non existent bribe they displayed naked 153 00:10:58,035 --> 00:11:03,275 Speaker 3: photos of me during an oversight hearing, And they have 154 00:11:03,355 --> 00:11:08,835 Speaker 3: taken the light of my dad's life love, the light 155 00:11:08,875 --> 00:11:12,555 Speaker 3: of my dad's love for me, and presented it as darkness. 156 00:11:14,035 --> 00:11:15,915 Speaker 3: They have no shame. 157 00:11:16,595 --> 00:11:21,075 Speaker 1: I like Hunter Biden. I like that aggressiveness. I like 158 00:11:21,195 --> 00:11:25,075 Speaker 1: that anger. I like that righteous indignation. I like the 159 00:11:25,195 --> 00:11:31,435 Speaker 1: naming of the coward's names. As with his father, I'd 160 00:11:31,435 --> 00:11:34,355 Speaker 1: like him to swear more. And the gist of his 161 00:11:34,475 --> 00:11:37,195 Speaker 1: argument is demonstrably true. Not only should you never go 162 00:11:37,275 --> 00:11:40,235 Speaker 1: into a closed hearing with a Republican, especially a proven 163 00:11:40,315 --> 00:11:43,595 Speaker 1: liar like James Comber, a man accused by his own 164 00:11:43,635 --> 00:11:47,395 Speaker 1: college girlfriend of beating her and calling her mother up 165 00:11:47,435 --> 00:11:49,355 Speaker 1: and saying he was going to kill her. Not only 166 00:11:49,395 --> 00:11:52,595 Speaker 1: should you never give a creature like that the chance 167 00:11:52,675 --> 00:11:56,075 Speaker 1: to manipulate you the way Joseph McCarthy used to manipulate 168 00:11:56,115 --> 00:11:59,995 Speaker 1: them innocent, but you should never let comer hell Joseph 169 00:12:00,155 --> 00:12:03,755 Speaker 1: macomber move more than a foot in either direction without 170 00:12:03,755 --> 00:12:08,315 Speaker 1: reminding everybody. He offered Hunter Biden his choice of a 171 00:12:08,395 --> 00:12:12,955 Speaker 1: private deposition or the public hearing hunter Biden showed up 172 00:12:12,955 --> 00:12:13,755 Speaker 1: for yesterday. 173 00:12:13,915 --> 00:12:15,715 Speaker 4: Hunter Biden's more than welcome to come in front of 174 00:12:15,715 --> 00:12:17,515 Speaker 4: the committeier he's invited today. 175 00:12:17,195 --> 00:12:17,915 Speaker 1: We will drop her. 176 00:12:18,035 --> 00:12:20,955 Speaker 4: We're in the downhill phase of this investigation now because 177 00:12:20,955 --> 00:12:24,435 Speaker 4: we have so many documents, and we can bring these 178 00:12:24,475 --> 00:12:28,235 Speaker 4: people in for depositions, for committee arrings, whichever they choose. 179 00:12:28,395 --> 00:12:32,755 Speaker 1: I stole that mashup off Congress and Moskowitz's feed as 180 00:12:32,875 --> 00:12:38,035 Speaker 1: two Hunter's father all Trump's House Republican slaves made their 181 00:12:38,115 --> 00:12:41,275 Speaker 1: squeaks of protests and let loose the tiny slivers of 182 00:12:41,315 --> 00:12:44,155 Speaker 1: their souls that Trump still doesn't own. And yet every 183 00:12:44,395 --> 00:12:48,155 Speaker 1: goddamned one of them, even ken Buck, righteous lame duck, 184 00:12:48,715 --> 00:12:52,355 Speaker 1: morelike milkshake duck, every one of them has now voted 185 00:12:52,355 --> 00:12:56,635 Speaker 1: to further the Republicans show trial. Hours after the Dow Jones, 186 00:12:56,675 --> 00:12:59,635 Speaker 1: which Republicans consider the only barometer of the nation's health, 187 00:12:59,835 --> 00:13:04,395 Speaker 1: hit an all time high. The phony impeachment has now 188 00:13:04,475 --> 00:13:08,675 Speaker 1: moved from committee examination, which isn't a thing, to a 189 00:13:08,795 --> 00:13:14,355 Speaker 1: formal inquiry, which also isn't a thing. Biden's transgressions are 190 00:13:14,395 --> 00:13:17,475 Speaker 1: so urgent, so pressing, so threatening to the life of 191 00:13:17,515 --> 00:13:20,475 Speaker 1: the nation that the Republicans voted on this inquiry and 192 00:13:20,515 --> 00:13:25,995 Speaker 1: then immediately went on vacation for the rest of the year. Well, 193 00:13:26,035 --> 00:13:28,115 Speaker 1: to be fair, they have to get back to their 194 00:13:28,155 --> 00:13:30,995 Speaker 1: home districts because you never know when Lord and Master 195 00:13:31,115 --> 00:13:36,355 Speaker 1: Trump will endorse them and their primary challengers, worms useless, 196 00:13:36,875 --> 00:13:44,475 Speaker 1: self debasing worms in a bottomless pit of Trump's manure. Well, frankly, 197 00:13:44,515 --> 00:13:48,115 Speaker 1: there is one bit of imagery I immediately regret, but 198 00:13:48,435 --> 00:13:53,235 Speaker 1: this impeachment KABOOKI theater. There is more evidence against James 199 00:13:53,315 --> 00:13:55,395 Speaker 1: Comer about his college girlfriend than there is about Joe 200 00:13:55,395 --> 00:13:59,115 Speaker 1: Biden about anything, So why not open an inquiry about 201 00:13:59,195 --> 00:14:03,795 Speaker 1: James Comer too? This crap is so obviously and nauseatingly 202 00:14:03,875 --> 00:14:06,475 Speaker 1: purely pulled a that you know who wrote a piece 203 00:14:06,555 --> 00:14:10,195 Speaker 1: bemoaning the perversion of the impeachment process. You know who 204 00:14:10,235 --> 00:14:16,755 Speaker 1: even noticed this, Chuck Todd. And that's ironic because long 205 00:14:16,795 --> 00:14:19,755 Speaker 1: before Chuck Todd was at NBC News, but not before 206 00:14:19,795 --> 00:14:22,715 Speaker 1: I was. You know which network let itself be played 207 00:14:22,795 --> 00:14:26,475 Speaker 1: like the proverbial two dollars banjo by a corrupt Speaker 208 00:14:26,475 --> 00:14:29,755 Speaker 1: of the House and an even more corrupt special prosecutor 209 00:14:30,555 --> 00:14:34,115 Speaker 1: to impeach Bill Clinton solely to dirty him up. You 210 00:14:34,195 --> 00:14:37,555 Speaker 1: know which network let themselves be used like that, be 211 00:14:37,715 --> 00:14:44,235 Speaker 1: prostituted like that NBC News impeachments used to feel like 212 00:14:44,275 --> 00:14:48,675 Speaker 1: the ultimate political punishment, writes Chuck Todd, But somewhere along 213 00:14:48,715 --> 00:14:55,355 Speaker 1: the way, impeachment became just another political campaign tactic. Somewhere 214 00:14:55,515 --> 00:15:00,395 Speaker 1: along the way. Gee, thanks, Chuck. Nobody had noticed that 215 00:15:02,195 --> 00:15:05,635 Speaker 1: earlier this year, or you know, in nineteen ninety eight 216 00:15:05,795 --> 00:15:08,515 Speaker 1: when it first happened. But good on you for writing 217 00:15:08,955 --> 00:15:12,155 Speaker 1: one nine hundred and forty eight words in your column 218 00:15:12,195 --> 00:15:14,955 Speaker 1: on nbcnews dot com, which is apparently a regular thing 219 00:15:15,035 --> 00:15:17,475 Speaker 1: now to which you have devoted yourself since they fired 220 00:15:17,515 --> 00:15:20,715 Speaker 1: you from Meet the Press. Good insight, like both siding 221 00:15:20,755 --> 00:15:23,675 Speaker 1: the impeachment of Trump for blackmailing another head of state 222 00:15:23,715 --> 00:15:26,515 Speaker 1: for dirt on his own rival for his own presidency, 223 00:15:26,635 --> 00:15:28,595 Speaker 1: and then the other impeachment of Trump for trying to 224 00:15:28,835 --> 00:15:32,075 Speaker 1: you know, end democracy, both siding that with the impeachment 225 00:15:32,075 --> 00:15:34,955 Speaker 1: of Bill Clinton for as Chuck slipped and wrote, an 226 00:15:34,955 --> 00:15:39,955 Speaker 1: affair with an intern. Chuck also graced us with two 227 00:15:40,075 --> 00:15:43,595 Speaker 1: uses of the cliche the political death penalty and such 228 00:15:43,755 --> 00:15:47,155 Speaker 1: watered down I can't offend Trump. He might be fewer 229 00:15:47,235 --> 00:15:51,035 Speaker 1: in thirteen months insights. As quote, much of the impeachment 230 00:15:51,075 --> 00:15:53,955 Speaker 1: fever on the right is driven by Trump and his 231 00:15:54,035 --> 00:16:00,875 Speaker 1: grievance campaign. No crap, Chuck, really much. There's the obligatory, 232 00:16:01,195 --> 00:16:04,315 Speaker 1: as I've said numerous times to any elected Republican I've 233 00:16:04,355 --> 00:16:09,715 Speaker 1: interview about Hunter Biden, and then the moral appeal to 234 00:16:09,795 --> 00:16:13,395 Speaker 1: how Republicans concerned about politicians making money off of government 235 00:16:13,635 --> 00:16:16,915 Speaker 1: should also be outraged by the Trump family and cronies. 236 00:16:16,915 --> 00:16:19,475 Speaker 1: And you wonder if Chuck really thinks there are still 237 00:16:19,555 --> 00:16:24,275 Speaker 1: human beings inside any elected Republican he's interviewed, who has 238 00:16:24,315 --> 00:16:27,595 Speaker 1: already let Trump pull his bone marrow out of him 239 00:16:27,595 --> 00:16:31,875 Speaker 1: with a sippy straw. I mean now that Chris Solizza, 240 00:16:32,475 --> 00:16:36,315 Speaker 1: like Skynet, has become self aware and actually made an 241 00:16:36,315 --> 00:16:40,995 Speaker 1: online joke asking which face was more punishable, Vivi gramaswamis 242 00:16:41,475 --> 00:16:45,315 Speaker 1: or Chris Silizza's. We need a new source of this 243 00:16:45,475 --> 00:16:49,955 Speaker 1: kind of old dribble that Chris used to do for us, 244 00:16:50,035 --> 00:16:54,155 Speaker 1: and now Chuck has taken over the reins. But honestly, 245 00:16:54,435 --> 00:16:58,755 Speaker 1: I'd rather have read about NBC's role in the perversion 246 00:16:58,835 --> 00:17:03,195 Speaker 1: of impeachment into this undisguised political character assassination, because even 247 00:17:03,235 --> 00:17:06,515 Speaker 1: before I read Chuck, and I'll give him this, he 248 00:17:06,595 --> 00:17:10,635 Speaker 1: reads just as smarmy as he sounds, I was thinking 249 00:17:10,715 --> 00:17:15,115 Speaker 1: about Monday, September twenty first, nineteen ninety eight, which might 250 00:17:15,235 --> 00:17:19,075 Speaker 1: someday be agreed upon as the official end date of 251 00:17:19,155 --> 00:17:24,475 Speaker 1: the original American form of government. That morning, just after 252 00:17:24,595 --> 00:17:29,115 Speaker 1: nine am, a feed began in a television control room 253 00:17:29,595 --> 00:17:32,515 Speaker 1: being controlled by the House Judiciary Committee, then as now 254 00:17:32,635 --> 00:17:35,635 Speaker 1: run by a bunch of scumbag Republicans who could defect 255 00:17:35,715 --> 00:17:39,635 Speaker 1: to the Russian Duma tomorrow and fit in seamlessly, maybe 256 00:17:39,635 --> 00:17:43,515 Speaker 1: not even needing translators. One of them finally figured out 257 00:17:43,515 --> 00:17:46,835 Speaker 1: how to press play on one of the videotape machines 258 00:17:47,395 --> 00:17:52,355 Speaker 1: with their Satanist hoofs, and in the master controls at 259 00:17:52,435 --> 00:17:55,595 Speaker 1: NBC News and ABC News and CBS News and CNN 260 00:17:55,635 --> 00:17:58,435 Speaker 1: and c SPAN and Fox News and CNBC and MSNBC 261 00:17:58,635 --> 00:18:01,715 Speaker 1: and countless other networks and outlets around the nation, somebody 262 00:18:01,715 --> 00:18:04,235 Speaker 1: in each one of them said, here it comes, and 263 00:18:04,715 --> 00:18:10,155 Speaker 1: there started playing on all American networks exactly at the 264 00:18:10,195 --> 00:18:12,475 Speaker 1: same time it was being fed out by the Republican 265 00:18:12,515 --> 00:18:17,715 Speaker 1: Judiciary Committee. There came the videotaped grand jury testimony of 266 00:18:17,755 --> 00:18:21,835 Speaker 1: William Jefferson Clinton, forty second President of the United States, 267 00:18:22,155 --> 00:18:26,075 Speaker 1: in the Special Council's investigation into what that old dead 268 00:18:26,275 --> 00:18:29,795 Speaker 1: pervert ken Starr liked to pretend was not sex with 269 00:18:29,835 --> 00:18:34,395 Speaker 1: an intern, broadcast immediately by the Republicans in the Judiciary 270 00:18:34,435 --> 00:18:38,075 Speaker 1: Committee at their command, via every network in this country 271 00:18:38,235 --> 00:18:42,475 Speaker 1: into every home using television at nine am September twenty one, 272 00:18:42,795 --> 00:18:49,555 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight. Grand jury testimony secret sacro sanct not 273 00:18:49,715 --> 00:18:53,275 Speaker 1: even to be quoted outside the courtroom without the consent 274 00:18:53,515 --> 00:18:58,355 Speaker 1: of the witness. On August seventeenth of that year, President 275 00:18:58,395 --> 00:19:04,075 Speaker 1: Clinton had testified to four hours of pornographic questions from 276 00:19:04,115 --> 00:19:09,435 Speaker 1: the staff of this dead psycho Star, and within days 277 00:19:09,515 --> 00:19:14,555 Speaker 1: that untouchable videotape of his untouchable testimony had been illegally 278 00:19:14,635 --> 00:19:18,555 Speaker 1: given to the House Judiciary Committee by the dead's Special 279 00:19:18,635 --> 00:19:22,995 Speaker 1: Councils scumbag Star, and literally thirty six days later, the 280 00:19:23,035 --> 00:19:26,875 Speaker 1: House Judiciary Committee illegally gave it to the broadcast networks 281 00:19:26,995 --> 00:19:30,395 Speaker 1: and the cable networks for public dissemination, and every one 282 00:19:30,435 --> 00:19:33,995 Speaker 1: of them, every goddamned last one of them. NBC included 283 00:19:33,995 --> 00:19:37,235 Speaker 1: an MSNBC where I was the principal anchor, and CBS 284 00:19:37,235 --> 00:19:39,995 Speaker 1: at ABC and all the others, every goddamn last one 285 00:19:40,035 --> 00:19:44,195 Speaker 1: of them transmitted it live and without interruption for four 286 00:19:44,635 --> 00:19:49,115 Speaker 1: goddamned hours, just as it was received from the Republicans 287 00:19:49,155 --> 00:19:53,435 Speaker 1: in the House. Not one network, not one even dared 288 00:19:53,475 --> 00:19:56,675 Speaker 1: to say, we're going to delay this like ten minutes 289 00:19:56,715 --> 00:19:59,315 Speaker 1: so we can provide some context to what you're seeing. 290 00:20:00,635 --> 00:20:04,635 Speaker 1: Not one let alone dared to say, Hey, is this journalism? 291 00:20:04,755 --> 00:20:09,435 Speaker 1: Is this? Uh? Is this right? Is this? Isn't this 292 00:20:09,595 --> 00:20:14,355 Speaker 1: grand jury testimony? Is this America? Not one of the 293 00:20:14,435 --> 00:20:18,395 Speaker 1: supposed great television newsmen of the day, Not Peter Jennings, 294 00:20:18,635 --> 00:20:22,875 Speaker 1: not Jim Lair, not Bernard Shaw, not Sam Donaldson, not 295 00:20:22,995 --> 00:20:26,835 Speaker 1: that great flaming fraud Brokaw, not even Dan Rather, nor 296 00:20:26,875 --> 00:20:30,315 Speaker 1: my late friend Tim Russert. Not one of them succeeded, 297 00:20:30,595 --> 00:20:34,155 Speaker 1: nor to my knowledge, even tried to even slow down 298 00:20:34,515 --> 00:20:38,195 Speaker 1: the total hijacking of American TV news by one political 299 00:20:38,235 --> 00:20:41,915 Speaker 1: party intent on removing the president from the other political party, 300 00:20:41,995 --> 00:20:44,355 Speaker 1: who had been elected not two years before by a 301 00:20:44,355 --> 00:20:47,715 Speaker 1: margin of two hundred and twenty electoral votes. Not one 302 00:20:48,155 --> 00:20:53,915 Speaker 1: goddamned journalist in television stood up and said no. None 303 00:20:53,915 --> 00:20:57,595 Speaker 1: of them tried to intervene on behalf of the secrecy 304 00:20:57,675 --> 00:21:00,755 Speaker 1: of the grand jury. None of them tried to intervene 305 00:21:00,755 --> 00:21:03,475 Speaker 1: on behalf of the dignity of the presidency, even when 306 00:21:03,515 --> 00:21:07,515 Speaker 1: the president has not been dignified. None of them even 307 00:21:07,595 --> 00:21:12,555 Speaker 1: tried to intervene to make the world safe for impeachment. 308 00:21:15,755 --> 00:21:19,515 Speaker 1: We may have begun to lose our political souls when 309 00:21:19,595 --> 00:21:22,915 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan's people got the Iranians to delay releasing the 310 00:21:22,955 --> 00:21:25,635 Speaker 1: hostages to help him win the nineteen eighty election over 311 00:21:25,715 --> 00:21:28,875 Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter. We may have begun to lose that soul 312 00:21:28,955 --> 00:21:32,195 Speaker 1: the day Richard Nixon green lighted the Watergate cover up. Hell, 313 00:21:32,315 --> 00:21:34,075 Speaker 1: we may have begun to lose it during the months 314 00:21:34,115 --> 00:21:37,715 Speaker 1: after the crooked and contested eighteen seventy six presidential campaign. 315 00:21:38,155 --> 00:21:43,755 Speaker 1: Blamed Tilden. But whatever we had left went out that 316 00:21:43,915 --> 00:21:48,115 Speaker 1: window on September twenty first, nineteen ninety eight, when the 317 00:21:48,235 --> 00:21:55,115 Speaker 1: last line of defense, ably manned by slobs like Andy 318 00:21:55,235 --> 00:21:59,595 Speaker 1: Lack and Andrew Hayward and David Weston, the last line 319 00:21:59,675 --> 00:22:04,995 Speaker 1: of defense protecting our form of government, said what are 320 00:22:04,995 --> 00:22:08,195 Speaker 1: you talking about? We can't do what's right. Fox News 321 00:22:08,235 --> 00:22:10,595 Speaker 1: is running this live. We'll get killed in the ratings. 322 00:22:10,715 --> 00:22:15,995 Speaker 1: We've got to protect our phony baloney jobs. Gentlemen, that 323 00:22:17,395 --> 00:22:21,835 Speaker 1: was it. Everything since that date has been in one 324 00:22:21,915 --> 00:22:32,475 Speaker 1: fashion or other reruns. I didn't get a harump out 325 00:22:32,515 --> 00:22:36,555 Speaker 1: of that guy. You watch your ass. Also of interest, 326 00:22:36,555 --> 00:22:39,755 Speaker 1: here a liar who got caught lying while running for 327 00:22:39,795 --> 00:22:43,355 Speaker 1: Congress is running again, and he needed to get Elon 328 00:22:43,475 --> 00:22:45,755 Speaker 1: Musk to pull a few springs so people would not 329 00:22:45,875 --> 00:22:48,835 Speaker 1: know he's lying again. And given that the guys I 330 00:22:48,955 --> 00:22:53,475 Speaker 1: just mentioned there, Andrew Lack, Andrew Hayward, David Weston, they 331 00:22:53,515 --> 00:22:55,955 Speaker 1: were the presidents of NBC News and CBS News and 332 00:22:55,995 --> 00:23:00,315 Speaker 1: ABC News, and they were two dollars banjos upon which Newton, 333 00:23:00,315 --> 00:23:03,835 Speaker 1: Gingrich and ken Starr played. Given that they were the 334 00:23:03,875 --> 00:23:06,315 Speaker 1: presidents of the new work news divisions, what do you 335 00:23:06,355 --> 00:23:10,235 Speaker 1: think Elon frickin' Musk did when faced with a choice 336 00:23:10,275 --> 00:23:14,315 Speaker 1: of right or expediency? Do you think he stood up 337 00:23:14,315 --> 00:23:26,835 Speaker 1: for what was right? That's next, This is countdown. This 338 00:23:27,475 --> 00:23:52,595 Speaker 1: is countdown with Keith Olberman still a come on, countdown. 339 00:23:52,635 --> 00:23:56,595 Speaker 1: It is happening today to broadcasters and podcasters and streamers 340 00:23:56,635 --> 00:24:02,395 Speaker 1: who were born in the year two thousand. That unexpected 341 00:24:02,435 --> 00:24:06,635 Speaker 1: moment universal to life, but particularly annoying when you're a broadcaster, 342 00:24:06,795 --> 00:24:10,155 Speaker 1: when you're thirty years old, or twenty five, or in 343 00:24:10,195 --> 00:24:13,675 Speaker 1: my case, you're twenty and some other broadcaster you're working 344 00:24:13,715 --> 00:24:15,555 Speaker 1: with comes up to you and says, you know, I 345 00:24:15,675 --> 00:24:17,475 Speaker 1: used to listen to you when I was a kid. 346 00:24:18,355 --> 00:24:23,075 Speaker 1: It is literally the day your own youth dies. I've 347 00:24:23,115 --> 00:24:25,275 Speaker 1: been on both ends of this conversation. I've been the 348 00:24:25,315 --> 00:24:28,875 Speaker 1: sayer and the sae. Details next in things I promise 349 00:24:28,955 --> 00:24:31,635 Speaker 1: not to tell first time for the daily roundup of 350 00:24:31,635 --> 00:24:34,635 Speaker 1: the misgrants, morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute 351 00:24:34,635 --> 00:24:39,155 Speaker 1: todays worst persons in the world. And first an update, Well, 352 00:24:39,275 --> 00:24:42,155 Speaker 1: even a climate change conference run by an oil sultan 353 00:24:42,875 --> 00:24:46,075 Speaker 1: can't get away with not mentioning the fatality of fossil fuels. 354 00:24:46,115 --> 00:24:50,075 Speaker 1: It turns out, hours after I recorded yesterday's COP twenty 355 00:24:50,115 --> 00:24:55,035 Speaker 1: eight did put out a closing statement encouraging quote transitioning 356 00:24:55,075 --> 00:25:00,835 Speaker 1: away from fossil fuels and energy systems by around twenty fifty, 357 00:25:00,955 --> 00:25:03,435 Speaker 1: which of course will be too late, and of course 358 00:25:03,475 --> 00:25:06,555 Speaker 1: it's non binding, and of course the Republicans will repudiate 359 00:25:06,595 --> 00:25:08,995 Speaker 1: it if they seize power, in which half of these 360 00:25:09,035 --> 00:25:12,075 Speaker 1: grotesquely and deliberately ignorant people in that party think is 361 00:25:12,155 --> 00:25:16,195 Speaker 1: woke because it has the word transition in it. Now 362 00:25:16,595 --> 00:25:20,555 Speaker 1: to today's medalists the bronze worse. Elon Musk is a 363 00:25:20,555 --> 00:25:24,915 Speaker 1: little crapshack social media site x formerly Twitter, the sports 364 00:25:24,955 --> 00:25:28,795 Speaker 1: illustrated of social media. It broke yesterday, at least the 365 00:25:28,795 --> 00:25:32,395 Speaker 1: links to other news sites and other real media locations 366 00:25:32,595 --> 00:25:35,355 Speaker 1: broke for several hours in the middle of the business day, 367 00:25:35,835 --> 00:25:38,635 Speaker 1: and sis Musk has denuded the place of all its 368 00:25:38,675 --> 00:25:43,155 Speaker 1: actual value except a disseminating white supremacism and other hatred, 369 00:25:43,555 --> 00:25:47,675 Speaker 1: b fundraising for dogs on death row, and c links 370 00:25:47,675 --> 00:25:50,475 Speaker 1: to news sites and other real news media locations. We 371 00:25:50,555 --> 00:25:53,155 Speaker 1: got our first look at what Twitter would be without 372 00:25:53,195 --> 00:25:57,115 Speaker 1: news organizations and others tweeting links of their own work. 373 00:25:58,195 --> 00:26:00,955 Speaker 1: Turns out we can live without it. Even the dogs 374 00:26:00,955 --> 00:26:03,395 Speaker 1: can live without it. We're developing an app for the dogs. 375 00:26:03,915 --> 00:26:09,475 Speaker 1: Nice work, oh, runner up worser Elon Musk. His little crapshag. 376 00:26:09,555 --> 00:26:13,355 Speaker 1: Car company, Tesla, the sports illustrated of the automotive industry, 377 00:26:13,395 --> 00:26:16,955 Speaker 1: has a small problem. There are about two million Teslas 378 00:26:16,995 --> 00:26:20,035 Speaker 1: on America roads today and the company is now recalling 379 00:26:20,115 --> 00:26:24,635 Speaker 1: about roughly two million. Out of the roughly two million, 380 00:26:25,235 --> 00:26:30,515 Speaker 1: the autopilot feature does not work correctly, and it turns out, yes, 381 00:26:30,635 --> 00:26:33,435 Speaker 1: it did contribute to many of the thousands of crashes 382 00:26:33,795 --> 00:26:38,515 Speaker 1: during which autopilot was engaged. Happily, there's no indication Elmo 383 00:26:38,595 --> 00:26:43,035 Speaker 1: has to recall the cyber truck what it's because they've 384 00:26:43,035 --> 00:26:45,835 Speaker 1: made so few cyber trucks that Musk can evade safety 385 00:26:45,875 --> 00:26:49,435 Speaker 1: testing on them. So far. To borrow a line from 386 00:26:49,435 --> 00:26:53,715 Speaker 1: my old friend David Letterman, you got here in a Tesla. Congratulations, 387 00:26:53,715 --> 00:26:58,275 Speaker 1: you've cheated death. But the gold medal winner the worst 388 00:26:58,755 --> 00:27:03,795 Speaker 1: Elon Musk, right wing nut job, his party, the Republicans, 389 00:27:03,955 --> 00:27:07,395 Speaker 1: the sports illustrated to political parties can depend on Musk 390 00:27:07,515 --> 00:27:11,075 Speaker 1: to do its bidding for them. The Ohio senator who 391 00:27:11,115 --> 00:27:14,035 Speaker 1: hopes to someday challenge Mitch McConnell for the Senate leadership, 392 00:27:14,315 --> 00:27:18,915 Speaker 1: the leadership in chins am I right. Jd Vance posted 393 00:27:18,915 --> 00:27:22,195 Speaker 1: at two thirty four pm Monday, that quote. In twenty 394 00:27:22,235 --> 00:27:26,235 Speaker 1: twenty two, National Democrats lied about JR. Madjuski and his 395 00:27:26,395 --> 00:27:31,075 Speaker 1: service record. Too many Republicans ran from these dishonest smears 396 00:27:31,155 --> 00:27:33,915 Speaker 1: instead of fighting them. Jr. Is running for Congress in 397 00:27:33,915 --> 00:27:36,555 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, and I'm proud to support him. Unquote. 398 00:27:36,635 --> 00:27:39,755 Speaker 1: Then there's a picture of Vance's Lord and Master Dementia J. 399 00:27:39,875 --> 00:27:43,155 Speaker 1: Trump with Majuski, who claimed still claims he was in 400 00:27:43,235 --> 00:27:48,595 Speaker 1: combat and he's never in combat. Hours later, community notes 401 00:27:49,235 --> 00:27:54,555 Speaker 1: the Underground the French Resistance of Twitter correct Advances lie 402 00:27:54,835 --> 00:27:58,595 Speaker 1: quote Jr. Madjuski did, in fact misrepresent his service record 403 00:27:58,635 --> 00:28:01,835 Speaker 1: during his twenty twenty two congressional campaign, According to United 404 00:28:01,875 --> 00:28:05,235 Speaker 1: States military documents obtained by the Associated Press through a 405 00:28:05,275 --> 00:28:09,555 Speaker 1: public records request, one quote and underneath that are links 406 00:28:09,555 --> 00:28:13,675 Speaker 1: to the Air Force Times. But at seven forty five 407 00:28:13,715 --> 00:28:17,955 Speaker 1: pm Monday, Majuski tweeted, quote, hey elon Musk, the disinformation 408 00:28:18,115 --> 00:28:21,875 Speaker 1: Dems are adding false community notes to Senator Vance's post, 409 00:28:22,115 --> 00:28:26,515 Speaker 1: and he provided his own link to the fascist propaganda 410 00:28:26,635 --> 00:28:31,115 Speaker 1: site Breitbart. By ten fifty pm Tuesday, a little over 411 00:28:31,195 --> 00:28:36,595 Speaker 1: twenty seven hours later, Madjuskei tweets again false community notes removed. 412 00:28:36,795 --> 00:28:40,235 Speaker 1: So Majuskie or Advance or somebody got Musk or somebody 413 00:28:40,275 --> 00:28:42,875 Speaker 1: else at Twitter X how many people still work there 414 00:28:43,635 --> 00:28:47,235 Speaker 1: besides Musk? That Nancy woman from NBC did she do this? 415 00:28:47,675 --> 00:28:51,995 Speaker 1: Somebody silenced the last lonely burp of honest free speech 416 00:28:52,075 --> 00:28:55,275 Speaker 1: on Twitter, free speech being the other thing Musk sells 417 00:28:55,315 --> 00:28:59,115 Speaker 1: besides self crashing cars. Did so to defend a Republican 418 00:28:59,235 --> 00:29:04,235 Speaker 1: muck who padded his military resume because Elon has decided 419 00:29:04,275 --> 00:29:09,995 Speaker 1: fashion will allow him to sell even more self crashing cars. Elon, 420 00:29:10,675 --> 00:29:13,675 Speaker 1: free speech is meaningless unless you let people that you 421 00:29:13,715 --> 00:29:17,315 Speaker 1: don't like say things you don't like, unless the truth 422 00:29:17,395 --> 00:29:19,915 Speaker 1: hurts a fascist, which case you have to urinate on 423 00:29:19,995 --> 00:29:25,955 Speaker 1: free speech. Musk two days worst person in the world, 424 00:29:42,195 --> 00:29:44,315 Speaker 1: see the number one story on the Countdown, and my 425 00:29:44,315 --> 00:29:47,315 Speaker 1: favorite topic, me and things I promised not to tell. 426 00:29:47,755 --> 00:29:50,155 Speaker 1: I believe it was this time of year, early winter, 427 00:29:50,435 --> 00:29:53,835 Speaker 1: thirty nine years ago that the CBS television station here 428 00:29:53,835 --> 00:29:57,515 Speaker 1: in New York, Channel two dismissed a news reporter named 429 00:29:57,595 --> 00:30:00,715 Speaker 1: Charles Crawford. I was reminded of him the other day 430 00:30:00,755 --> 00:30:03,275 Speaker 1: because he bridges two stages of my life that from 431 00:30:03,275 --> 00:30:07,875 Speaker 1: this advanced age, I feel like two separate lives. Until 432 00:30:07,915 --> 00:30:10,555 Speaker 1: I was about fifteen and went out on my first date, 433 00:30:10,995 --> 00:30:13,955 Speaker 1: I spent all of my time doing about four things 434 00:30:13,995 --> 00:30:18,155 Speaker 1: and four things only, going to school, going to baseball games, 435 00:30:18,395 --> 00:30:21,795 Speaker 1: collecting sports memorabilia, and trying to figure out how I 436 00:30:21,875 --> 00:30:25,195 Speaker 1: was going to be a sportscaster or sportswriter when I 437 00:30:25,235 --> 00:30:28,315 Speaker 1: grew up. Incidentally, i think I'm now up to doing 438 00:30:28,355 --> 00:30:32,515 Speaker 1: about six things and six things only anyway. In nineteen 439 00:30:32,595 --> 00:30:35,995 Speaker 1: seventy one, the fact that there were adults who collected 440 00:30:36,035 --> 00:30:40,475 Speaker 1: baseball cards and spent literally hundreds of dollars on some 441 00:30:40,555 --> 00:30:45,075 Speaker 1: of them was sprung on an unsuspecting America. The first 442 00:30:45,235 --> 00:30:48,915 Speaker 1: big card convention, a gussied up flea market in a 443 00:30:49,035 --> 00:30:52,515 Speaker 1: Detroit area hotel over a three day weekend to which 444 00:30:52,755 --> 00:30:58,795 Speaker 1: some people traveled from other states, was so completely unbelievable 445 00:30:59,235 --> 00:31:02,995 Speaker 1: that CBS News sent a crew and a reporter to 446 00:31:03,235 --> 00:31:06,395 Speaker 1: cover it. The story closed out in an addition to 447 00:31:06,435 --> 00:31:08,755 Speaker 1: the CBS Evening News one night, and I think it's 448 00:31:08,835 --> 00:31:13,435 Speaker 1: so shocked Anchorman Walter Cronkite that he said gush or 449 00:31:13,475 --> 00:31:16,875 Speaker 1: something before recovering to sign off. That's why it was Monday, 450 00:31:16,915 --> 00:31:22,715 Speaker 1: August twenty third, nineteen seventy one. Swalder Cronkite, CBS. The 451 00:31:22,795 --> 00:31:26,755 Speaker 1: couple a thousand of us who constituted the entirety of 452 00:31:26,835 --> 00:31:30,715 Speaker 1: the known baseball card hobby all led out a squeal 453 00:31:30,995 --> 00:31:33,555 Speaker 1: of delight in front of our black and white TVs 454 00:31:34,235 --> 00:31:38,795 Speaker 1: and the mainstreaming of baseball cards began. The most amazing 455 00:31:38,875 --> 00:31:43,435 Speaker 1: part of it was it was almost all adults. There 456 00:31:43,475 --> 00:31:46,115 Speaker 1: was a kid my age in Indianapolis named Elliott Dock 457 00:31:46,195 --> 00:31:48,795 Speaker 1: who had a fabulous collection. There was another one near 458 00:31:48,875 --> 00:31:52,035 Speaker 1: Philly named Robert Liftson, and he and I have been 459 00:31:52,075 --> 00:31:53,955 Speaker 1: friends fifty years now, and he was over at the 460 00:31:53,995 --> 00:31:57,915 Speaker 1: apartment in December talking cards. There were some other older 461 00:31:57,955 --> 00:32:00,675 Speaker 1: teenagers seventeen eighteen nineteen, but other than that it was 462 00:32:00,715 --> 00:32:04,955 Speaker 1: all adults, adults who had either secretly never stopped acting 463 00:32:05,035 --> 00:32:08,835 Speaker 1: baseball cards or had resumed collecting them, and who could 464 00:32:08,915 --> 00:32:12,675 Speaker 1: enjoy everything from a newly issued Reggie Jackson card to 465 00:32:12,795 --> 00:32:16,755 Speaker 1: a newly discovered example from the set issued by Kalamazoo 466 00:32:16,875 --> 00:32:21,835 Speaker 1: Bats Cigarettes in eighteen eighty eight. In nineteen seventy two, 467 00:32:21,955 --> 00:32:24,115 Speaker 1: the first such card show in the metropolitan New York 468 00:32:24,195 --> 00:32:26,635 Speaker 1: area was held, and at the age of thirteen, I 469 00:32:26,715 --> 00:32:30,435 Speaker 1: went with my parents and sister in tow and I had, 470 00:32:30,995 --> 00:32:35,195 Speaker 1: for me anyway, a transcendent experience, and they did not, 471 00:32:35,675 --> 00:32:37,875 Speaker 1: unless you consider a summer weekend in a hotel in 472 00:32:37,955 --> 00:32:41,515 Speaker 1: Lake Groundkunkam and New York transcendent. At least there was 473 00:32:41,555 --> 00:32:45,435 Speaker 1: a pool and it didn't rain anyway. The next year, 474 00:32:45,435 --> 00:32:47,635 Speaker 1: in partnership with some others, one of the really good 475 00:32:47,675 --> 00:32:51,355 Speaker 1: people in the hobby, an adult named Mike Ehrenstein, also 476 00:32:51,475 --> 00:32:53,995 Speaker 1: still a friend of mine fifty years later, the man 477 00:32:53,995 --> 00:32:57,275 Speaker 1: who basically invented everything from plastic sheets to keep your 478 00:32:57,355 --> 00:33:00,835 Speaker 1: cards in to reprints of old cards to cards of 479 00:33:00,915 --> 00:33:03,955 Speaker 1: minor league players. He staged the first show in New 480 00:33:04,075 --> 00:33:06,915 Speaker 1: York City in the Union Hall, all the way downtown, 481 00:33:07,715 --> 00:33:10,875 Speaker 1: Bang on ast your place, over the Memorial Day weekend. 482 00:33:11,435 --> 00:33:13,355 Speaker 1: He was told he was going to lose his shirt 483 00:33:13,435 --> 00:33:16,715 Speaker 1: on this. In fact, by early Friday evening, like two 484 00:33:16,715 --> 00:33:19,795 Speaker 1: hours after the thing opened, the crowd was so large 485 00:33:19,915 --> 00:33:23,995 Speaker 1: and dense I could not see from my chair behind 486 00:33:23,995 --> 00:33:26,635 Speaker 1: the table I had bought from which I was selling 487 00:33:26,675 --> 00:33:29,355 Speaker 1: my duplicates, to the table directly across the aisle from me, 488 00:33:29,395 --> 00:33:32,235 Speaker 1: which was no more than twenty feet away. It was 489 00:33:32,275 --> 00:33:36,315 Speaker 1: such a success Mike hurriedly booked the hall for a 490 00:33:36,355 --> 00:33:40,835 Speaker 1: second show for Thanksgiving. Well, by now nineteen seventy three, 491 00:33:41,075 --> 00:33:43,475 Speaker 1: if you put a bunch of these crazy adults paying 492 00:33:43,515 --> 00:33:47,955 Speaker 1: good money to buy old baseball cards, twenty five dollars 493 00:33:47,995 --> 00:33:51,755 Speaker 1: for a nineteen fifty two tops Mickey Mantle. Are these 494 00:33:51,795 --> 00:33:55,555 Speaker 1: people escape bees from a psychiatric facility? Well, if you 495 00:33:55,595 --> 00:33:57,715 Speaker 1: did that, some reporter was going to show up and 496 00:33:57,875 --> 00:34:02,195 Speaker 1: cover the lunacy. This was especially true of local television news, 497 00:34:02,395 --> 00:34:05,075 Speaker 1: especially on a weekend where a story it was not 498 00:34:05,155 --> 00:34:09,155 Speaker 1: exactly like every other story that you could shoot before noon, 499 00:34:09,595 --> 00:34:11,755 Speaker 1: develop the film and get it on the air at 500 00:34:11,795 --> 00:34:15,755 Speaker 1: six pm. That was a gift from the gods, Which 501 00:34:15,835 --> 00:34:17,755 Speaker 1: is how I came to see a little commotion at 502 00:34:17,755 --> 00:34:20,155 Speaker 1: the front door of that nineteen seventy three Memorial Day 503 00:34:20,155 --> 00:34:23,995 Speaker 1: weekend card show and see emerging from the commotion a 504 00:34:24,075 --> 00:34:27,995 Speaker 1: man carrying a small TV camera, followed by another man 505 00:34:28,195 --> 00:34:31,835 Speaker 1: carrying a big TV boom microphone, followed by another man 506 00:34:31,875 --> 00:34:34,915 Speaker 1: who was Charles Crawford, the reporter from Channel two News. 507 00:34:35,595 --> 00:34:37,595 Speaker 1: I knew it was him because I knew everybody on 508 00:34:37,675 --> 00:34:40,315 Speaker 1: TV in New York in nineteen seventy three by sight, 509 00:34:40,835 --> 00:34:43,795 Speaker 1: because I watched as much TV news as I could, 510 00:34:43,875 --> 00:34:48,435 Speaker 1: because bluntly I was studying it. My dad was at 511 00:34:48,435 --> 00:34:50,475 Speaker 1: my table with me, and while I hoped that mister 512 00:34:50,515 --> 00:34:53,635 Speaker 1: Crawford would come over and interview me among the hundreds 513 00:34:53,635 --> 00:34:56,675 Speaker 1: of collectors and dealers there, my dad was a little 514 00:34:56,755 --> 00:35:00,755 Speaker 1: less reliant on happenstance an accident, and was more bands on. 515 00:35:01,715 --> 00:35:03,955 Speaker 1: Be right back, he said. And the next thing I 516 00:35:04,035 --> 00:35:06,995 Speaker 1: knew he was button holding Charles Crawford and gesturing back 517 00:35:07,035 --> 00:35:08,955 Speaker 1: towards me. And the next thing I knew after that, 518 00:35:09,515 --> 00:35:11,915 Speaker 1: Charles Crawford was standing in front of my table, asking 519 00:35:11,915 --> 00:35:14,715 Speaker 1: me a few questions, but mostly asking me to show 520 00:35:14,755 --> 00:35:18,035 Speaker 1: his cameraman how I was able to use my quote 521 00:35:18,235 --> 00:35:21,315 Speaker 1: filing system so sophisticated it allows him to find any 522 00:35:21,355 --> 00:35:25,155 Speaker 1: card a collector might want in seconds. That was it 523 00:35:25,675 --> 00:35:29,555 Speaker 1: my television debut, No sound bite, not even my name, 524 00:35:29,795 --> 00:35:32,755 Speaker 1: just my hands pulling out a drawer from a small 525 00:35:32,835 --> 00:35:36,315 Speaker 1: filing cabinet and definitely locating a nineteen sixty eight Rico 526 00:35:36,395 --> 00:35:39,955 Speaker 1: Petrocelli card or whatever it was. There was also about 527 00:35:39,995 --> 00:35:43,635 Speaker 1: three seconds of me looking straight towards the camera, just 528 00:35:43,715 --> 00:35:46,875 Speaker 1: as Charles Crawford told me to my eyes, a mixture 529 00:35:46,875 --> 00:35:52,115 Speaker 1: of abject fear and an inscrutable scheming quality, which quite 530 00:35:52,155 --> 00:35:54,835 Speaker 1: bluntly at its essence, amounted to my internal dialogue about 531 00:35:54,835 --> 00:35:56,995 Speaker 1: how I could get Charles Crawford to surrender his camera 532 00:35:57,035 --> 00:35:59,195 Speaker 1: crew in his job so I could go leave the 533 00:35:59,235 --> 00:36:01,675 Speaker 1: card show and work for Channel two News that night. 534 00:36:03,595 --> 00:36:07,235 Speaker 1: I have gone into cruciating detail about my career timeline, 535 00:36:07,515 --> 00:36:10,035 Speaker 1: and for purposes of the Charles Crawford story, I will 536 00:36:10,075 --> 00:36:12,595 Speaker 1: only hit the bullet points. This is the year nineteen 537 00:36:12,635 --> 00:36:15,755 Speaker 1: seventy three. By nineteen seventy five, I was on the 538 00:36:15,755 --> 00:36:19,675 Speaker 1: air at the professional commercial radio station owned by Cornell Students. 539 00:36:20,115 --> 00:36:22,315 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy eight, I was an intern at the 540 00:36:22,355 --> 00:36:26,115 Speaker 1: news assignment desk and for the sportscaster at another New 541 00:36:26,195 --> 00:36:29,435 Speaker 1: York TV station, Channel five. In nineteen seventy nine, I 542 00:36:29,475 --> 00:36:32,395 Speaker 1: got my first full time job at UPI's radio network. 543 00:36:32,635 --> 00:36:34,875 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty one, I got my first TV gig 544 00:36:34,915 --> 00:36:38,035 Speaker 1: as a substitute sports reporter for CNN in New York. 545 00:36:38,395 --> 00:36:40,955 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty two, I got that job full time. 546 00:36:41,315 --> 00:36:44,595 Speaker 1: And now back to nineteen eighty three, when they started 547 00:36:44,715 --> 00:36:47,315 Speaker 1: letting me anchor for the first time a daily four 548 00:36:47,355 --> 00:36:50,315 Speaker 1: minute sportscast every night at five point forty five in 549 00:36:50,355 --> 00:36:53,275 Speaker 1: the middle of the newscast that was co anchored by 550 00:36:53,315 --> 00:36:56,995 Speaker 1: CNN's Vice president and New York Bureau chief, Mary Alice Williams. 551 00:36:58,075 --> 00:37:00,835 Speaker 1: One day now, at the age of nearly twenty five, 552 00:37:00,915 --> 00:37:03,915 Speaker 1: a cynical veteran of twenty eight months in television. I 553 00:37:03,995 --> 00:37:06,555 Speaker 1: came down from our offices on the twenty fifth floor 554 00:37:06,595 --> 00:37:09,475 Speaker 1: to our studio in the lobby of one World Trade 555 00:37:09,475 --> 00:37:13,955 Speaker 1: Center to do my sportscast. But apparently Mary Alice Williams 556 00:37:14,075 --> 00:37:15,675 Speaker 1: was off that day because when I got to the 557 00:37:15,715 --> 00:37:18,675 Speaker 1: anchor desk at five forty two or so, the anchor 558 00:37:18,795 --> 00:37:24,195 Speaker 1: at the desk in her place was Charles Crawford, the 559 00:37:24,235 --> 00:37:27,275 Speaker 1: same Charles Crawford, the Charles Crawford who had put me 560 00:37:27,315 --> 00:37:30,835 Speaker 1: on TV a decade before from the nineteen seventy three 561 00:37:30,875 --> 00:37:34,035 Speaker 1: card show at the District sixty five Union Hall on 562 00:37:34,235 --> 00:37:38,955 Speaker 1: Astor Place. A co anchor in Atlanta teased my sportscast, 563 00:37:38,995 --> 00:37:41,555 Speaker 1: and when when we went to the commercial break, Charles 564 00:37:41,555 --> 00:37:44,195 Speaker 1: Crawford introduced himself to me and I said we've met, 565 00:37:44,835 --> 00:37:47,515 Speaker 1: and he said, oh, how when? And I said, well, 566 00:37:47,795 --> 00:37:50,755 Speaker 1: I'll tell you now so you can recover during the sportscast. 567 00:37:51,915 --> 00:37:54,795 Speaker 1: And as I quickly recounted it and quoted his narration 568 00:37:54,955 --> 00:37:57,795 Speaker 1: word for word, this fourteen year old has a filing 569 00:37:57,835 --> 00:38:00,435 Speaker 1: system so sophisticated it allows him to find any car 570 00:38:00,515 --> 00:38:03,795 Speaker 1: to collector might want in seconds. I told him that, 571 00:38:04,075 --> 00:38:07,715 Speaker 1: and his face got whiter and whiter and whiter. And 572 00:38:07,755 --> 00:38:09,635 Speaker 1: he told me not to worry if he got up 573 00:38:09,675 --> 00:38:12,155 Speaker 1: and left while I was doing the sports cast, because 574 00:38:12,155 --> 00:38:14,195 Speaker 1: he needed to walk around for a bit and get 575 00:38:14,235 --> 00:38:17,395 Speaker 1: some air. To his credit, when we came back from 576 00:38:17,435 --> 00:38:22,635 Speaker 1: my report, he introduced me as his old friend when 577 00:38:22,675 --> 00:38:25,555 Speaker 1: he came back and said, don't misunderstand me. I'm not 578 00:38:25,595 --> 00:38:28,035 Speaker 1: offended or anything. I'm glad you made it, but just 579 00:38:28,075 --> 00:38:29,995 Speaker 1: remember this will happen to you someday too. I mean, 580 00:38:30,035 --> 00:38:32,875 Speaker 1: I'm only forty seven. And I laughed, and I told 581 00:38:32,915 --> 00:38:35,635 Speaker 1: him it already had happened to me. That I had 582 00:38:35,635 --> 00:38:38,395 Speaker 1: gone back to my college radio station a year after 583 00:38:38,435 --> 00:38:41,035 Speaker 1: I had graduated, and a kid walked up to me 584 00:38:41,075 --> 00:38:43,675 Speaker 1: and said he was just starting to train as a 585 00:38:43,675 --> 00:38:47,715 Speaker 1: sportscaster there and he had been listening to me since 586 00:38:47,755 --> 00:38:52,355 Speaker 1: he was eleven years old. And I went whiter than 587 00:38:52,475 --> 00:38:55,155 Speaker 1: Charles Crawford did on that set, and I said, the 588 00:38:55,155 --> 00:38:57,955 Speaker 1: hell does that work. I'm only twenty one. I only 589 00:38:57,995 --> 00:39:01,315 Speaker 1: started here five years ago. And he explained he was 590 00:39:01,315 --> 00:39:03,395 Speaker 1: still attending Ithaca High School at the moment he was 591 00:39:03,435 --> 00:39:07,115 Speaker 1: only sixteen. And I told Charles Crawford that my response 592 00:39:07,195 --> 00:39:10,315 Speaker 1: was not like his to go for a walk. I said, 593 00:39:10,355 --> 00:39:13,275 Speaker 1: I went out and went for a drink, and Charles said, 594 00:39:13,355 --> 00:39:15,715 Speaker 1: that's also my plan. As soon as the newscast is over, 595 00:39:15,835 --> 00:39:18,915 Speaker 1: I'll buy you one. It couldn't have been nicer. And 596 00:39:19,115 --> 00:39:21,355 Speaker 1: just as I was leaving CNN the next spring, they 597 00:39:21,395 --> 00:39:24,075 Speaker 1: were hiring him full time, and he eventually became CNN's 598 00:39:24,155 --> 00:39:26,755 Speaker 1: chief science correspondent. He was still with them in the 599 00:39:26,795 --> 00:39:29,875 Speaker 1: late nineties, and he passed away in twenty sixteen at 600 00:39:29,875 --> 00:39:32,355 Speaker 1: the age of eighty one. I remember him for the 601 00:39:32,435 --> 00:39:35,195 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three Card Show, of course, but also for 602 00:39:35,275 --> 00:39:37,235 Speaker 1: that drink at the bar that was literally one hundred 603 00:39:37,315 --> 00:39:40,315 Speaker 1: yards from CNN New York front door. He had all 604 00:39:40,395 --> 00:39:44,395 Speaker 1: kinds of advice about dealing with TV executives. These people 605 00:39:44,475 --> 00:39:48,315 Speaker 1: are as dangerous as anything in this world. And I 606 00:39:48,435 --> 00:40:01,275 Speaker 1: was a pilot instructor in the Air Force for eight years. 607 00:40:05,075 --> 00:40:06,875 Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank 608 00:40:06,915 --> 00:40:10,275 Speaker 1: you for listening. Do me a solid. Tell somebody who 609 00:40:10,275 --> 00:40:14,475 Speaker 1: does not listen to listen. Tell them they can call 610 00:40:14,515 --> 00:40:15,875 Speaker 1: me up and say they used to listen to me 611 00:40:15,915 --> 00:40:18,995 Speaker 1: when they were a kid. Get them to listen. Countdown 612 00:40:18,995 --> 00:40:20,755 Speaker 1: has come to you from the Vin Scully Studios at 613 00:40:20,755 --> 00:40:24,275 Speaker 1: the Old Women Broadcasting Empire in New York. Countdown musical 614 00:40:24,315 --> 00:40:27,515 Speaker 1: directors Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle arranged, produced, and 615 00:40:27,555 --> 00:40:31,915 Speaker 1: performed most of our music. Mister Shanelle handled orchestration and keyboards, 616 00:40:31,955 --> 00:40:35,635 Speaker 1: Mister Ray on guitars, bass and drums produced by Tko Brothers. 617 00:40:35,915 --> 00:40:38,995 Speaker 1: Other music, including some of the Beethoven compositions, arranged and 618 00:40:39,075 --> 00:40:42,115 Speaker 1: performed by the group No Horns Allowed. Sports music is 619 00:40:42,155 --> 00:40:45,115 Speaker 1: courtesy ESPN, Inc. Was written by Mitch Warren Davis. It's 620 00:40:45,155 --> 00:40:49,115 Speaker 1: called the Old Woman Theme from ESPN two. Our satirical 621 00:40:49,115 --> 00:40:52,115 Speaker 1: and pithy musical comments are by Nancy Fauss, the best 622 00:40:52,155 --> 00:40:55,195 Speaker 1: baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today is my friend 623 00:40:55,235 --> 00:40:57,515 Speaker 1: John Dean, and everything else was pretty much my fault. 624 00:40:57,835 --> 00:40:59,995 Speaker 1: So that's countdown for this the one thousand and seventy 625 00:41:00,075 --> 00:41:04,155 Speaker 1: third day since Dementia J. Trump's first attempted coup against 626 00:41:04,155 --> 00:41:07,515 Speaker 1: the Democrats elected government of the United States. Use the 627 00:41:07,555 --> 00:41:11,115 Speaker 1: Insurrection Act against him and them while we still can, 628 00:41:11,875 --> 00:41:15,395 Speaker 1: and before he endorses somebody else. In the North Carolina 629 00:41:15,475 --> 00:41:18,675 Speaker 1: sixth the next scheduled Countdown is tomorrow. Bolton says, the 630 00:41:18,675 --> 00:41:22,475 Speaker 1: news warrants till then. I'm Keith Olderman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, 631 00:41:23,035 --> 00:41:24,075 Speaker 1: and good luck. 632 00:41:29,515 --> 00:41:32,715 Speaker 2: Because of the momentum of our victory, we will have 633 00:41:32,875 --> 00:41:34,115 Speaker 2: a Unis economy. 634 00:41:34,235 --> 00:41:38,755 Speaker 1: Roaring Back Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. 635 00:41:39,035 --> 00:41:44,195 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 636 00:41:44,475 --> 00:41:46,435 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.