American television talk show host and sportswriter/columnist
POPULARITY
Categories
Hosted by Tony Kornheiser
242 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
10 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
10 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
9 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
4 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
4 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
3 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
6 episodes with Tony Kornheiser
SERIES 2 EPISODE 87: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Dictator-On-Day-One Trump continues to measure the windows for the new curtains in his White House, and I don't know if that has been PROCESSED on the fascist side or if we have properly done so on the, you know, Non-Dictatorship Side but it is increasingly obvious that Trump is increasingly confident that he will seize power next year. That is the ONLY possible explanation for what he has now done: leaking, to the gullible and willing stenographers from Axios Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei for publication yesterday, a set of choices for his administration that would make Jair Bolsonaro blush: Vice President Tucker Carlson, Chief of Staff Steve Bannon, CIA Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Stephen Miller, or Attorney General Mike Davis, or Attorney General J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Tom Cotton, Secretary of Denial Kari Lake, Secretaries-of-to-be-announced Kristi Noem, Byron Donalds, Johnny McEntee, and of course Secretary of Lecterns Sarah Huckabee. We will never fully now, not even after the autopsy, what PRECISELY is wrong with Trump's brain but it seems clear that whatever it is one of its symptoms is that he must convince himself that he IS winning, WILL win, will ALWAYS win. Jack Smith is right and he IS a serial election denier but it's deeper than that: at his advanced age and with his advanced diseases, if he ever believed he was defeated, he would die – figuratively or maybe literally. So the greatest relief he could possibly have would be to believe, 334 days before it happens, that he has already won the 2024 election and that is how he is behaving and I'm not sure WHAT to do with that but it HAS to make him sloppy and vulnerable and better minds than ours can problem figure out which soft spot on his head to PUSH. What VALUE is there in saying “here's Tucker Carlson: psychopathic white supremacist whose career stability makes Keith Olbermann's look like that of Bob Cratchit – I'm going to put him in government. Along with Kari Lake, whose highest elected office was weekend weather-girl in Rock Island.” It's the kind of things you do NOT to rally your base and NOT to scare your opponents but because you really can't STOP yourself from doing them, and suddenly you are more convinced than ever than you can get away with them. And if that isn't a motto for the entire Trump Nazi Party I don't know what is. PLUS: Matt Gaetz is about to get Robespierred, J.D. Vance wants to get a head start on prosecutor writers. And competing January 6 Truthers fight it out over whose bullshit is true. (17:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: MAGA Congresswoman McClain makes a fool of herself but not as much as would-be MAGA Congressman Philip Sean Grillo does. The NFL coach who really doesn't have to "hand it to" the 9/11 plotters. Poor Nick Fuentes and Vivek Ramaswamy pushing white supremacy without realizing that if the Trumpers run out of brown immigrants, the next people they'll purge will be... Fuentes and Ramaswamy. B-Block (33:31) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Mr. Preble Gets Rid Of His Wife C-Block (43:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A Box To Hide InSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tony Kornheiser and Pablo Torre come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including if the Yankees need to do more to be competitive after trading for Juan Soto, what the defection of Jon Rahm from PGA to LIV Golf would mean for both tours, and Booger McFarland joins the show for 5 Good Minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 86: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The seven justices of the Supreme Court have given no indication HOW they will rule on Trump's disqualification under the 14th Amendment and they have given no indication WHEN they will rule but here's a bigger issue: They have no RIGHT to rule. The 14th Amendment clearly, unquestionably, inarguably, and ETERNALLY states that an insurrectionist can't serve in an elected federal or state office, or a lot of other offices, and it doesn't allow anybody to overrule the Constitution because the 14th Amendment already HAS a means for disqualified traitors to appeal – the drafters OF the 14thAmendment BUILT THAT REMEDY IN - and they have already designated two bodies to overrule disqualification under special circumstances, and those bodies are the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate and if they each vote by two-thirds to let Trump back on the ballot, he's back on the ballot. That is, for all practical purposes, IN the Constitution! And if they DON'T, he's not. That is also, for all practical purposes, in the Constitution! And we KNOW this because it was written, principally, by Congressman John Bingham, a Radical Republican who not only was one of the House Managers for the IMPEACHMENT of President Johnson, but earlier Bingham had been the Assistant Judge Advocate General during the trial of the accomplices of the man who murdered Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth. And if John Bingham's attitude towards insurrectionists wasn't clear enough from the 14thAmendment and the completely justified slow roasting of President Andrew Johnson – just a reminder: the eight co-conspirators charged in the Lincoln Assassination that the co-author of the 14th Amendment PROSECUTED included Mrs. Mary Surratt who ran the boarding house where the conspirators met, and the stagehand at Ford's Theater who did nothing more than hold Booth's horse while he went in and murdered the president. They HANGED half of the defendants – including the woman who ran the boarding house. Three of the other four were given life sentences. The guy who held the horse got six years at hard labor. They DID make a concession to Mrs. Surratt. While they were preparing to hang her and the others they let her sit in a chair. The authors of the 14th Amendment weren't EFFING AROUND. Plus: I've GOT it. I've GOT President Biden's version of the famous only-ran-once only-needed-to-run once Lyndon Johnson 1964 "Daisy" commercial. YOU'RE WELCOME. B-Block (24:46) IN SPORTS: After just 5-1/2 years of rumors: Juan Soto to the Yankees? The White Sox to Nashville? And why, yes, I did sell a 1914 Babe Ruth Baltimore Orioles rookie card for seven figures - why do you ask? (33:56) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: NYC Mayor Adams (appointed, he says, by God) has an approval rating of 28%. RFK Jr confesses to flying on Jeffrey Epstein's jet. Musk lets Carlson re-platform Jones on Twitter. C-Block (38:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The fanciness of the British accent trips me up on my way to interviewing Mickey Mantle. Also the guy WITH the woman with the fancy British accent was wearing a CAPE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including how much Juan Soto would help the Yankees if they trade for him, if it was a mistake for David Roberts to talk about meeting Shohei Ohtani, if the Bucks or Lakers winning last night in the In-Season Tournament is the bigger deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The return of Tony Kornheiser To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 85: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jack Smith's Shocker: He will prosecute Trump on the premise that the January 6th Coup Attempt started in 2012. A new filing with the Judge indicates Smith will argue he tried to push this country over the edge and into violent revolution and dictatorship in November and December of 2020 and January 2021, Donald Trump was NOT RESPONDING to what he falsely believed was a stolen election. And he was NOT RESPONDING to faulty legal advice. And he was not RESPONDING to changing partial vote counts. And he was not RESPONDING to unexpected outcomes in swing states. It was all a plan. An EIGHT YEAR OLD plan. A well-rehearsed plan. The “Rigged Election” lie of 2020 began in 2012… when Trump tweeted after Obama's re-election, quote: “He lost the popular vote by a lot; We should have a revolution in this country…" “We should march on Washington and stop this…” “The election is a sham and a travesty…” And - most familiarly - “Let's fight like hell.” Plus, Smith introduces an unidentified co-conspirator, a Trump staffer who tried to start a riot to derail the counting of ballots in Detroit on November 4, 2020, and was the go-between from the campaign to the actual rioters in the arena. Plus: the same day I suggest using the insurrection act against Trump, Steve Bannon and Kash Patel promise to jail journalists and Democrats and destroy government, and the Speaker of the House says he will release all remaining January 6 video but blur the faces of people on it so they cannot be prosecuted. It's literally lawless obstruction of justice. We are, AGAIN, at the political equivalent of the moment in the movie Rosemary's Baby when Mia Farrow shakes off the drugs and the anesthetics and the gaslighting and shouts “This is no dream! This is really happening!” Use the tools we have, no matter how blunt they are, rather than leave them to be used against us. B-Block (27:05) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Johnson signs off on impeachment, Nehls admits it's being done just to give Trump "ammo," Gomer Comer stumbles over his explanation, Mitt Romney, grandson of a political refugee from Mexico, wants a sealed border, Nancy Mace loses another reason to get out of bed in the morning. (31:30) IN SPORTS: I'm going to assume Ohtani is NOT going anywhere that's been in the news. And taxpayer dollars to get a football team into a playoff? (37:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Julie Kelly doesn't understand laws, Thomas Massie does an antisemitism, and Ronna McDaniel is the latest to not know who was president in 2020. C-Block (41:52) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tales of Ted Turner and me and the unlikely guy who wrote me a fan letter about a previous story I did on Ted. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the In-season tournament results, the Jags losing Trevor Lawrence, and Caleb Williams opting to sit out of his bowl game. All that and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SERIES 2 EPISODE 84: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Here's an idea. What if - instead of waiting for Trump to manipulate our system and get elected again and use The Insurrection Act against AMERICA, we just used it against him - today? It's not like he's not guilty of... you know... INSURRECTION. B-Block (28:03) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Deadline nears on Ukraine $: How could the GOP be anti-gun? Witness tampering in the Georgia Trump case (with singing). The online Mehdi Hasan petition exceeds 15,000. Trump calls Jimmy Carter "The First Lady" and never even notices. (33:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: COP28 actually put a UAE Oil Sultan in charge and they're all shocked he denied fossil fuels are killing the planet. Trump Diapers now on sale. And Christian Ziegler is not only in huge legal trouble, but the other woman was only really interested in his Missus. C-Block (38:36) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I guess because I'm suggesting using The Insurrection Act to SAVE America rather than leaving it for Trump to use to DESTROY America, I want to tell the saga of "A Christmas Story" and how Little Ralphie finally figured out how to defeat the bully, Scut Farkas (by invoking the insurrection act!)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss FSU being left out of the playoff, the 49ers beating the Eagles, and preview tonight's in season tournament, all that and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilson discuss the Cowboys vs. Seahawks. TNF game, preview 49ers vs. Eagles, and breakdown the playoff scenarios that may happen before championship week in CFB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SERIES 2 EPISODE 83: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I'd like to apologize for what MSNBC has become. Again. I'd like to apologize AGAIN for what MSNBC has become. They fired Mehdi Hasan yesterday. He hosted one hour a week on Sunday nights and it might have been the best hour on the network because while I don't know that I agreed with even MOST of what he said, he wasn't doctrinaire and he didn't simply repeat what Maddow says and he didn't pretend to be a moderate because being a Trump propagandist didn't work out for him like Scarborough does and he didn't struggle to read a prompter full of Democratic Party talking points like Joy Reid does and to my knowledge he never fell asleep on the air like Andrea Mitchell does nor cause the viewer to fall asleep like Hayes and O'Donnell do. I do NOT know for certain why they fired him, I do NOT know if he said something about the Middle East they did not like, I do not know if the timing was coincidental. Let's put it this way: they either fired him for his Middle East opinions DURING conflict in the Middle East OR they fired him for something else DURING conflict in the Middle East and thus made themselves look guilty of firing him for his Middle East opinions anyway. Just as important as the continuing asinine and ignorant conduct of the management of MSNBC and NBC and NBC News is the issue of personal integrity of the people at what is god help us the closest thing to a liberal news network in this country. MORE important than the FIRING of Mehdi Hasan, is the response from MSNBC's stars about the firing of Mehdi Hasan. Want to read what Maddow and O'Donnell and Hayes and Wagner and Reid and everybody else said about this: Wanna read it again? The POINT of HAVING the money IS that you SHOULD say "F YOU" to somebody at least once in your life. Not like Musk did; saying it to people who for some reason don't want their ads next to antisemitic and Pizzagate posts. But in DEFENSE of something. FOR something. If there are three people at NBC – hell, three people in NEWS – three people in TELEVISION – who can at least get away with a loud pointed protest – hell, can get away with saying “If Mehdi Hasan goes or if Tiffany Cross goes or if we keep diluting our product down to badly rewritten Democratic Party press releases, we're on strike” – if there are THREE people in media – besides like Taylor Swift - who can say “We are standing on our principles” and will LIVE TO TELL ABOUT IT, it's Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell. Of course – you've gotta HAVE principles. ALSO the Judge Engoron Trump gag order is back in place and Trump is still endangering the judge, his wife, and now his son. And Politico says the editorial that provoked Trump to revive the self-own "I will kill ObamaCare" not only revivified the ISSUE; it revivified Biden's campaign. Emails went out within hours. Nancy Pelosi got on a press call Tuesday. Biden hit Trump on video Wednesday. Commercials are already running on the state level. And then the Wall Street Journal ran another editorial on ObamaCare… attacking… TRUMP. For his failure to repeal AND his failed response to their first editorial. Whereupon Trump replied by attacking… the Wall Street Journal by calling the paper quote “Globalist” and the Editorial Page a “mess.” The Editorial Page whose editorial about ObamaCare got him so excited that he again vowed to replace ObamaCare and thus revitalized the Biden campaign and I haven't fully diagrammed this bizarre confluence of events but I think the gist of it is: if Biden is re-elected we can thank… The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board? B-Block (31:46) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: House Judiciary subpoenas Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo and enrages GOP. Good. Wanna guess how many copies Marjorie Greene's book sold in its first week? You need only three digits. And Henry Kissinger is dead. Are we certain? (37:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Even The Daily Caller has fired Tucker Carlson. Lanah Burkhardt and book banning for fun and profit. And Three's Company: Florida GOP Chief accused of sexual battery by a woman who says she and he and his wife - who is the co-founder of Moms For Liberty - had a long-standing menage-a-trois polygamy thing going on. Oh so it's THAT kind of liberty! Moms for three-ways! C-Block (44:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The first time I've ever read aloud Thurber's death-by-a-thousand-cuts critique of Salvador Dali's autobiography. "The Secret Life Of James Thurber."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including if they're okay with the In-Season Tournament's tiebreakers, if they think the Warriors are in a free-fall, and Troy Aikman joins the show for 5 Good Minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tony Kornheiser and Pablo Torre come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including if the Seahawks are a true test of the Cowboys tonight, if there is a chance the Jets could fire Robert Saleh, and Booger McFarland joins the show for 5 Good Minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has made a stochastic threat against the President of the United States: “Joe Biden should stop his Election Interfering Thugs before it is too late for him and the rest of the Country,” That is a threat and if you wrote it somewhere in public – depending on your rap sheet and past mental health – Secret Service might stop by for a visit. And Trump's rap sheet includes manifest and growing clinical insanity. Oh and an attempt to violently overthrow the government of the United States. In the same post: “He's got the Justice Department and others suing me… it opens up a very big and dangerous pandora's box” which is yet another stochastic call for somebody to attack the Justice Department or its leaders or Jack Smith or all of the above, to say nothing of what – if he keeps saying it this loudly this often, voters might actually notice – is the hundredth repetition of his promise that he will actually do what he's falsely claiming is being done to him – what he already DID do on a small scale – use the DOJ as a personal tool for revenge and suppression of any opposition. Trump also attacked Judge Engoron's clerk and his wife: “Judge Engoron's Trump Hating wife, together with his very disturbed and angry law clerk, have taken over control of the New York State Witch Hunt Trial aimed at me…” Again, this is the clerk he has doxxed, and now threatened; and added to this is Engoron's wife. Five times in just four minutes yesterday Trump posted screenshots sent to him by the lunatic Laura Loomr of posts a Twitter-X account with various anti-Trump memes, over which Trump wrote “This is the judge's wife saying this” and “Another from Judge Engoron's Wife” and “Yet another from Judge Engoron's wife” and “Judge Engoron's Wife” and finally he ran out and just repeated “Judge Engoron's Wife.”Spoiler alert: it's NOT Judge Engoron's Wife. 22 days ago she told Newsweek quote “I do not have a Twitter account. This is not me. I have not posted any anti-Trump messages.” Even if Mrs. Engoron IS somehow lying, boldly and on-the-record and with no wiggle room of course as we know, what a judge's wife does in her life or on social media is immediate grounds for the judge's impeachment. Right Ginni Thomas? And if he wasn't self-destructing when he endorsed the Anti-semitic Great Replacement theory last week, or if he wasn't self-destructing when he endorsed Pizzagate on Tuesday, he WAS self-destructing at the New York Times Dealbook Summit yesterday, daring advertisers not to advertise, implying no one could blackmail him with mere money. And congrats to interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin for not getting any of it on him when Musk turned into a human debris field. A lesson, kids: never let them inject the Ozempic into your brain. B-Block (23:40) IN SPORTS: Aaron Rodgers plays a little football and doesn't rip anything. And could the biggest baseball import from Japan make his decision based on what uniform number a team is willing to give him? (29:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The cognitive decline of Sean Hannity, Ron DeSantis "literally" standing in front of a freight train, and I'm back on Twitter-X thanks to the firm hand of Lauren Boebert. C-Block (34:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Myra - and her unborn puppies - in Devore, Ca. (35:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Every year at this time I am reminded that a Major League Baseball team once managed to get me fired from a job I hadn't started at. Which means that since 2000 they have done that, as often as they've won the World Series.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SERIES 2 EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is actually trying to keep his ass out of prison for subverting the 2020 election, by insisting that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. "Russia Russia Russia. And THAT, your honor, is the case for the defense of Dementia J. Trump" Trump is demanding that Judge Tonya Chutkan give his lawyers access to the FULL classified intelligence report proving the 2016 Russian interference, and so what if he's spent seven uninterrupted years honking and bleating about “The Russia Hoax” and denigrating the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, while insisting there was no Russian interference and making it an article of faith within the Republican Cult that he was cleared of any Russian collusion and election subversion and so what if he WASN'T cleared of Russian collusion and election subversion because there WAS no Russian collusion and election subversion except now his defense is: there was TOO Russian collusion and election subversion. “Whereas the Special Counsel's Office falsely alleges that President Trump ‘eroded public faith in the administration of the election,'” write his lawyers in a light night filing demanding more documents for their defense against Jack Smith's Washington case, “the 2016 Election Intelligence Community Assessment uses strikingly similar language to attribute the origins of that erosion to foreign influence – that is, foreign efforts to ‘undermine public faith in the U-S democratic process,” Plus: Some of Mike Pence's interview with Jack Smith and his Grand Jury testimony has leaked and Trump could go to jail over the placement of a comma. In his book, Pence recounted that he spoke to Trump on Christmas Day of 2020 when the Pence-Can-Block-The-Certification Plot was already well underway. In the book Pence quotes himself as telling Trump – and the punctuation is essential: “You know, I don't think I have the authority to change the outcome." But Pence told the investigators that the comma shouldn't have been there at all and what he said was, quote, “You KNOW I don't think I have the authority to change the outcome,” which suggests that Trump had begun to pressure – to threaten – Pence to violate the constitution at least 13 days before the January 6th coup attempt. And that is DAMNING. Not the colloquial “y'know” but “You KNOW I can't do that.” And some of Liz Cheney's book is out and the shock of all shocks: Donald Trump has actually spent some of his adult life not eating: “She recounts the moment she first found out that McCarthy, fearing he had lost his ability to fundraise, secretly went to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago just three weeks after the Jan. 6 attack. At first, Cheney thought the photo of the two men smiling and shaking hands was fake. But she was incredulous at McCarthy's defense of his visit. He claimed Trump's staff summoned him. “Mar-a-Lago? What the hell, Kevin?” Cheney asked. “They're really worried,” McCarthy said. “Trump's not eating, so they asked me to come see him.” “What? You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump's not eating?” Cheney responded. “Yeah, he's really depressed,” McCarthy said. Oh have I got a couple jokes for YOU. B-Block (21:19) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Elon Musk insists on Twitter that Pizzagate is real and the only person who proved it wasn't has gone to jail for child porn. So I'm leaving Twitter. (27:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: BBC Washington anchor covers Rosalynn Carter memorial, mispronounces her first name THREE TIMES; Ron DeSantis may have helped kill a guy; Senator John Kennedy gets blown out of the water by a mild-mannered gun violence expert. C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My friend who wrote all the original "This Is SportsCenter" commercials, Hank Perlman, visited yesterday. So it's time to review our greatest work, especially the famous Alexi Lalas Guitar Smash episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the lackluster Bears vs. Vikings game, their thoughts on the IST, and the names circulating in head coaching searches. All that and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 80: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Somebody finally told Dementia J. Trump that he's been calling Biden “Obama” for the last few months. So he has fabricated a backstory that whenever he has MADE this cognitive gaffe, it has been “sarcastic," so he could “indicate” that “others” may actually be running things. And just to sell this excuse even harder, Trump has now begun to do the one thing that could most easily give back his poll numbers, particularly his improving numbers with minorities; the one thing that could most easily destroy Trump's arguments about inflation under Biden; the one thing that would be the answer to the Biden Campaign Team's Prayers. He has attacked ObamaCare. He has insisted he and the Republicans should never give up on TERMINATING it - just when almost everybody had forgotten he failed to do it despite 29 promises that he would, and that he lost at least two elections on it. It's not just a political millstone he's put around his own neck and the neck of every other Republican. It could also cost Trump his recent gains among minority voters. 80% of blacks and nearly 70% of Hispanics support ObamaCare and because of ObamaCare the rate of the uninsured among blacks and Hispanics has dropped roughly in HALF since 2010; just when Trump and Biden and events had tilted the entire profile of the election into things that favored Trump, Trump just brought back from the dead, what might be the LAST issue in which Democrats completely kick Republican ass. An NBC poll two months ago said Democrats are trusted by 2 to 1 over Republicans on Health Care. To sum it up, as an unnamed Biden adviser said: “It's almost perfect that Trump would pick the ONE thing they haven't really put front and center, which we know is incredibly unpopular, and say ‘Yeah, I'm gonna do this too!'" Thanks, Obama! Meanwhile, it is time for us to destroy Fox News. Twice in the last week its little oasis of presumed authenticity has proved to be just another venue for lying, journalistic terrorism, fraud, and partisanship that would embarrass Kimberly Guilfoyle. As late as Sunday, Fox was still intimidating that the horrible accident (never buy a car called a "Bentley Flying Spur") on the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls was some form of terrorism, and as late as last night it was still insisting Biden "couldn't even avoid age questions while on vacation" then playing a tape of its own reporter shouting the only age question. It's beyond dishonesty, it's desperation and it needs to come crashing down. And there are ways we can make it happen. B-Block (33:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Judge Chutkan rejects a Trump claim about imaginary January 6 evidence; Elise Stefanik somehow thinks she - a congresswoman - got the Trump Gag Order stayed; and now whenever you read Maggie Haberman or Jonathan Swan you'll remember they're holding back Trump news for their 2025 Trump book. (36:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's Charlie "Butt" Hurt; Kevin McCarthy is dumber than we thought; and the Oxford Union chose HIM for their debate, instead of me. C-Block (42:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Like everybody else, I was once a Sports Illustrated writer. Hell, I was once in a sports media industry without AI-generated content (and as we just found out at SI: AI-generated writers!) and so competitive that when I was with UPI, my AP rival would not loan me a $1.50 piece of equipment to save my career at the Olympics when my own bosses had gotten me drunk!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the Panthers firing their coach, the Eagles beating the Bills, and the Ravens' defense dominating the Chargers offense. All that and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 79: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Ludicrous as it looks, insane as Musk seems, corrupt as the Texas Attorney General is, this “Indict Media Matters” story is the FUTURE. It is practice, and Musk is the stand-in for the role ultimately to be played by Dementia J. Trump. Not merely politicizing but fully privatizing criminal prosecution in this country. Media Matters catches Musk placing high-priced corporate ads next to antisemitic content, the corporations investigate, the corporations cancel the ads. Musk complains. Trump's Renfield, Stephen Miller, responds and lights the bat signal. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has to do stuff like this or the billionaires will stop protecting him, promises to jail reporters for telling the truth. It's stochastic prosecution. The template is being sanded down and polished as we watch. This is practice for the bastards. Like January 6th was practice for the bastards. Just like the entirety of Trump's time in the White House was practice for the bastards. Trump won't have to repeal the 1st Amendment to put Kristen Welker in jail. Or in theory, YOU, if you've ever tweeted or written anything online that he doesn't like. Or in theory, ME. Hell: I could easily be FIRST. Trump doesn't have to GET Congress to MAKE a law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. He reads something he doesn't like in The Washington Post (or one of his benefactors reads something bad on somebody's website and calls Trump) and he just drops the prosecution down to a state and the next thing you know Texas or Florida or Missouri or Mississippi becomes a veritable journalistic speed-trap. The Trumpists are so confident that they are giving us previews of their plans for 2025. There is one way to beat them: Liberal money, matching them dime for dime to save democracy. That, or this Trumpian nightmare isn't the future - it's the present. B-Block (22:13) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Mayor Adams' daily scandal is followed by a really weird sound bite. Senator Menendez needs to keep you from thinking about his gold bars so he hires a lawyer with the nickname "Gold Bars." (26:58) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Senator Kennedy does a racism and a sexism and a mispronunciationism; a Trumper messes up a meme; Nikki Haley just couldn't leave the nine-year old girl wearing the Haley hat alone. She had to ask her something. And Nikki got owned. C-Block (32:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I'm just about the youngest person you know who actually remembers the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 60 years ago today. And now it's clear it was a turning point in another way: it was the beginning of Conspiracy Theory Nation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SERIES 2 EPISODE 78: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The democracy will certainly not survive Donald Trump but I am now wondering if it has any chance of surviving Sarah Wallace, Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard, and Brad Garcia and if you don't know who they are, they are the latest people on the latest list of supposed liberals and supposed officers of the court who could get us all KILLED. Millett seems to be the most clueless of the three DC Appeals Court dilettantes who first STAYED the gag order issued against Trump in the Election Subversion case and then yesterday conducted the in-person hearing and all but announced that they WILL significantly limit the order because apparently when Trump starts ignoring laws he doesn't like and jailing judges he doesn't like, these idiots somehow think they will be immune because they were so fair to him back there in November 2023. Judge Millett seemed to base her nitwitted reaction to the two hours of oral arguments on the impact of the gag order on…presidential debates. “He has to speak ‘Miss Manners' while everyone else is throwing targets at him? It would be really hard in a debate, when everyone else is going at you full bore. Your attorneys would have to have scripted little things you can say.” Miss Manners. Trump has to speak ‘Miss Manners.' Do you get the same feeling I do that Judge Millette has no earthly clue WHO Dementia J. Trump is? Do you get the OTHER same feeling that I do that it has not occurred to, and will NEVER occur to, Judge Millette that so far there have been THREE presidential debates in the Republican primary and Trump hasn't shown up to any of them and there is no reason to expect he'd have the guts to show up to one in the general election. And THEN there is Judge Sarah Wallace and I'm not sure she didn't even harm the country MORE than Judge “Miss Manners” and Judge “I Would Assume” did. Judge Wallace heard the 14th Amendment disqualification case and at the same time that she ruled quote “that Trump incited an insurrection on January 6, 2021, and therefore ‘engaged' in insurrection within the meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment” she then superseded the Amendment itself in as remarkable an act of judicial cowardice as I've ever seen. “After considering the arguments on both sides,” wrote Judge Wallace, “the Court is persuaded that ‘officers of the United States' did not include the PRESIDENT of the United States. It appears to the Court that for whatever reason the drafters of Section 3 did not intend to include a person who had only taken the Presidential Oath,” unquote. So she ordered him onto the Colorado primary ballot instead of saying “Yeah, I'm thinking they meant to include PRESIDENTS because otherwise having just survived the Civil War they decided to make sure Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest could NOT run for anything EXCEPT President of the United States rather than showing some guts, Judge Wallace folded. The people who could DO something and they actually divide into two categories and two categories ONLY: Judges who are too effete to do anything and judges who are too scared to do anything. B-Block (22:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: How did Argentina elect as its new president Jason Bateman playing Wolverine? The late great Joss Ackland. And the newest housing requisite: Built-in Dog Showers? (26:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Just a Fox News typo, no doubt: "Osama Biden Laden"; Moms For Liberty's Philly chief is a registered sex offender; Senator Mike Lee launches the worst January 6th gaslighting ever. C-Block (32:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Milo in Tennessee (33:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I anchored the telecast of the 1992 Baseball Expansion draft, 31 years ago this week. Star analyst Joe Morgan really didn't want to be there. REALLY didn't.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Eagles beating the Chiefs, the latest on LSU's women's basketball team and preview the Thanksgiving slate. All that and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Browns beating the Steelers, the Bills beating the Jets, and the Vikings falling late to Denver. All that and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 77: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (1:44) BULLETIN: White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates issues searing condemnation of the antisemitism rampant on Twitter-X and specifically calls out Elon Musk's repetition of the antisemitic madness behind the 2018 "Tree Of Life" synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. It is a dramatic and unyielding statement with language so strong it must have been approved by President Biden himself and signals his willingness to confront the antisemitism, and all religious and anti-minority hate, and Musk himself. It is a startling development. The remainder of this podcast is a repeat of Friday's regular 76th episode and if you've heard it you may skip it with my full blessing. But it does emphasize how a threat to ban Twitter-X and end all government contracts with him, could rescue it from Musk's prejudice and bullying (6:56) It is time for the government of the United States to ban “X” – the social media site still primarily known as Twitter - and to terminate all government contracts with its owner. Under Trump the government moved to ban TikTok as a security risk to the United States, so there is precedent for at least the attempt, because a process that has been accelerating for more than a year reached a climax Wednesday when owner Elon Musk answered a blatantly antisemitic tweet with the reply quote “you have said the actual truth.” Combined with surging anti-semitism throughout the website, and the use of Nazi hate speech and paraphrases of infamous Hitler quotes by the likely Republican candidate for president, the tinderbox of antisemitism has never been fuller or drier and Trump and Musk seem determined to light it ablaze – and with it, light ablaze the peace and security of this nation. Musk's bizarre running of the Twitter-X platform had already destroyed more than half its value and even more of its advertising. Yesterday afternoon, IBM announced it was pulling its already-scheduled ads for the next three months – the New York Times says that was a million dollars' worth. Rather remarkably, as of the close of business yesterday The New York Times had not yet cancelled Musk's scheduled appearance twelve days from now at a Times event it calls its “DealBook Summit” which it describes as the gathering of quote “the most consequential leaders in business, politics, and culture,” unquote… and, I guess, the most consequential leaders in antisemitism. As the snowball rolling down the hill toward her reached speeds of about a thousand miles an hour, Musk's hand-picked CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a comment at 3:45 PM Eastern that seemed crafted by the nation's finest satirical comedians, or maybe Tim Robinson in the hot dog suit and the “We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This” meme. Quote: “X's point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the boad – I think that's something we can and should all agree on. When it comes to this platform, X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There's no place for it anywhere in the world – it's ugly and wrong. Full stop.” If taken sincerely and literally, Yaccarino's only possible next action would be… to suspend Elon Musk's account. Musk has gone down a path from which he cannot backtrack. Twitter-X – at least HIS version of it – must be banned, and government contracts and other agreements – local, state, national - with his other firms: Space-X, Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and xAI must be terminated. Today. There is no other option. B-BLOCK (23:07) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The George Santos ethics investigation is in. He doesn't have any. Remarkable research that suggests the Republicans haven't ONCE needed his vote. Paul Pelosi's attacker is found guilty, as is a J6 insurrectionist that MAGA has convinced itself was actually a Black Lives Matter Antifa George Soros plant.(28:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's an ugly word and Caitlyn Jenner just proved she doesn't know how to spell it. It's the word "Congresswoman" and Trump Junior just proved he doesn't know how to pronounce it. And it may be the last words Charissa Thompson ever says as a sportscaster. The former Fox Sports football sideline reporter volunteers the startling information that several times she DIDN'T interview the coach at halftime and simply lied and made up what she thought he would've said. Unless...she made THAT story up too. C-BLOCK (36:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: One James Thurber short story, above all others, is in the college textbooks and high school textbooks and middle school textbooks. And there's a reason for it: "The Night The Bed Fell."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the latest findings in the Michigan investigation, Joe Burrow's hand injury, and Mark Andrews season-ending injury. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 76: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) It is time for the government of the United States to ban “X” – the social media site still primarily known as Twitter - and to terminate all government contracts with its owner. Under Trump the government moved to ban TikTok as a security risk to the United States, so there is precedent for at least the attempt, because a process that has been accelerating for more than a year reached a climax Wednesday when owner Elon Musk answered a blatantly antisemitic tweet with the reply quote “you have said the actual truth.” Combined with surging anti-semitism throughout the website, and the use of Nazi hate speech and paraphrases of infamous Hitler quotes by the likely Republican candidate for president, the tinderbox of antisemitism has never been fuller or drier and Trump and Musk seem determined to light it ablaze – and with it, light ablaze the peace and security of this nation. Musk's bizarre running of the Twitter-X platform had already destroyed more than half its value and even more of its advertising. Yesterday afternoon, IBM announced it was pulling its already-scheduled ads for the next three months – the New York Times says that was a million dollars' worth. Rather remarkably, as of the close of business yesterday The New York Times had not yet cancelled Musk's scheduled appearance twelve days from now at a Times event it calls its “DealBook Summit” which it describes as the gathering of quote “the most consequential leaders in business, politics, and culture,” unquote… and, I guess, the most consequential leaders in antisemitism. As the snowball rolling down the hill toward her reached speeds of about a thousand miles an hour, Musk's hand-picked CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a comment at 3:45 PM Eastern that seemed crafted by the nation's finest satirical comedians, or maybe Tim Robinson in the hot dog suit and the “We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This” meme. Quote: “X's point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the boad – I think that's something we can and should all agree on. When it comes to this platform, X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There's no place for it anywhere in the world – it's ugly and wrong. Full stop.” If taken sincerely and literally, Yaccarino's only possible next action would be… to suspend Elon Musk's account. Musk has gone down a path from which he cannot backtrack. Twitter-X – at least HIS version of it – must be banned, and government contracts and other agreements – local, state, national - with his other firms: Space-X, Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and xAI must be terminated. Today. There is no other option. B-BLOCK (17:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The George Santos ethics investigation is in. He doesn't have any. Remarkable research that suggests the Republicans haven't ONCE needed his vote. Paul Pelosi's attacker is found guilty, as is a J6 insurrectionist that MAGA has convinced itself was actually a Black Lives Matter Antifa George Soros plant.(22:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's an ugly word and Caitlyn Jenner just proved she doesn't know how to spell it. It's the word "Congresswoman" and Trump Junior just proved he doesn't know how to pronounce it. And it may be the last words Charissa Thompson ever says as a sportscaster. The former Fox Sports football sideline reporter volunteers the startling information that several times she DIDN'T interview the coach at halftime and simply lied and made up what she thought he would've said. Unless...she made THAT story up too. C-BLOCK (30:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: One James Thurber short story, above all others, is in the college textbooks and high school textbooks and middle school textbooks. And there's a reason for it: "The Night The Bed Fell."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including if they're surprised that Jim Harbaugh accepted his 3-game coaching suspension, what message Draymond Green's 5-game suspension sends, and Booger McFarland joins the show for 5 Good Minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 75: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: B-Block (19:16) IN SPORTS: The president of the Cleveland Guardians admits what I've guessed at here: Many baseball teams are in financial trouble because of the collapse of cable sports television. And a Reddit post about the Brooklyn Nets "killing their own players" is either the best satire of sports fan idiocy, or the best example of sports fan idiocy. (25:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There's a bunch: Elon Musk's antisemitism, Brianna Keilar platforming Joe Lieberman and the No Labels Trump Stalking Horses, "Democrat" Dean Phillips circulates an endorsement by Matt Gaetz, and poor FBI Director Wray subjected to the stupidity of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the "Ghost Buses" of Clay Higgins. Who ya gonna call? C-Block (33:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With his three Ukrainian Hunter Biden Dirt sources suddenly accused of being Russian spies and under indictment for treason in Ukraine, it's time to tell you of the first time I knew Rudy Giuliani was nuts. Spoiler alert: it was in a previous century.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 2 EPISODE 74: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Ukraine indicts Rudy Giuliani's three contacts on the fabricated "Hunter Biden Burisma Investigation" as RUSSIAN SPIES. The charge is TREASON. The second part of Trump's multi-pronged association with Russia (and the primary reason for his first impeachment) roars back to life as the Ukrainian government indicts a sitting member of its parliament, a former member, and the former deputy prosecutor, for running a disinformation campaign alongside the GRU - Russian Military Intelligence. It is unlikely the scandal will actually see Giuliani prosecuted in Ukraine, but until these indictments it was also unlikely that the Ukrainian-Russian-Disinformation scandal would spring back to life. Two of the three men indicted for treason had previously been sanctioned by Trump's own State Department for helping Russian spies pump disinformation into this country through gullible and corrupt people (looking at you Rudy). And this now ties to James Comer because last spring when Comer asked a "whistleblower" about recordings of Joe Biden, one of them mysteriously produced exactly those recordings. Comer's investigation is now based in part on the work of a Russian Spy under indictment in Ukraine for treason. ALSO: Fani Willis expects her Trump trial to extend into next winter and very possibly into early 2025. Textbook reply by the Special Counsel to the stay of the Trump DC case gag order - except prosecutors compared his case to those of Tim McVeigh, a 9/11 plotter, and a Boston Marathon bomber. And as Senator Mullin threatens to throw hands with a Union Boss witness on the Senate floor, and Rep. Tim Burchett accuses Rep. Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him, we see that Trump's attempt to normalize political violence in this country is taking root. Mullin even goes on two channels to insist MORE such violence is a good thing, and makes a glowing reference to the 1856 nightmare when a Pro-Slavery Congressman nearly beat an Abolitionist Senator to death with a cane at his Senate desk. Mullin is either a historical ignoramus, or a sadist who just indicated support for those who used violence to try to protect slavery. B-BLOCK (33:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The new manager of the New York Mets begins his tenure in the worst way possible: by invoking the New York Yankees. More accusations against Russell Brand. And billionaire CEO Jamie Dimon has decided who should be the next president. No, it's NOT "President Jamie Dimon" - because compared to who he has chosen, "President Jamie Dimon" would be a GOOD idea. C-BLOCK (39:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of the Mets, and of slamming one's head against a wall, I just told this story the other day so it's time to tell it here: the day I found out, courtesy New York City's Number 7 Subway, why Mom used to say "don't run for a train, there'll always be another."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including what the NBA should do about Draymond Green after he put a chokehold on Rudy Gobert last night, where Deshaun Watson's season ending injury leaves the Browns, and if they have any issues with last night's CFP rankings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SERIES 2 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump IS our Hitler. I posited this as early as 2016 and stated it in this series in September, 2022. But some bridge was crossed over the weekend, something happened that was so bad that even The Washington Post sat up and took notice. And now, suddenly, the forces of Groupthink and Conventional Wisdom and The Run On The Bank and The Fear Of Coming In Last On The New Big Beat have all aligned - and for once, for good. Trump is Hitler. Not Hitler 1940, not Hitler 1938. But Hitler 1933? The last moment at which he could have been stopped before he unleashed the cataclysms of European destruction and the holocaust. That's where we are with Trump. And a bevy of his quotes FINALLY broke through: calling his enemies vermin and promising to root them out and echoing Hitler's "ein Volk" speech, while at the same time his evil psychotic henchmen let one too many detail leak about plans to vet every significant military leader so he could count on the army, and his plan to build concentration camps for migrants (and oh by the way anybody who would defend them) and his attempts to get Mo Brooks to demand a new election and his reinstallation as president LAST YEAR and some kind of an overthrow of the Biden regime - all came out simultaneously. To say nothing of the video proffers that got Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell their Georgia plea deals, full of previously sourced stories that will now have witness testimony about seizing voting machines and "the boss is not going to leave" and suddenly a million light bulbs have gone off around the media: TRUMP REALLY MEANS TO TAKE POWER AND NEVER GIVE IT UP. It just might, just might not be too late. But we have to advance it, and the way you and I can do so directly is to use the words. Suspend Godwin's law and the Survivors' Law (there is only one Hitler - it's Hitler) by making sure there really IS only one Hitler. We must call Trump Hitler. We must call them Nazis. We must get President Biden to call them Nazis. We must make people realize that stopping Trump is essential to saving freedom and democracy in this nation. Because it is. And the first group - the media - just began to wake up to it. B-BLOCK (37:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox News fired a guy for reporting the truth about January 6; A Texas Trumpist is trying to get elected to congress by reenacting the Martin Luther King assassination; And the Supreme Court just instituted a Code of Ethics that a) isn't a code, and doesn't have anything to do with ethics. (43:03) IT IS NOW TWO YEARS since the death of my hospice pup Mishu and there is actually news about him. Even in death, he may have made it so that other dogs afflicted with the terrible heart malformation that claimed him, may survive. C-BLOCK (1:02:10) THE STORY OF MISHU, Part 2 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the Niners beating the Jags, the Wolverines winning without Harbaugh, and Jimbo Fisher being fired from Texas A&M. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SERIES 2 EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Literally, Trumped-Up Charges: in Univision interview Dementia J. Trump has confirmed last Sunday's Washington Post story that if we do not stop him from again taking over The White House, he WILL openly politicize the Department of Justice and order it to create fictional indictments of his political rivals in order to prosecute them from campaigns or elections. He literally boasted that he would do what he has falsely accused the legal system of doing to him. And of course if Trump can fabricate charges against politicians, he can fabricate them against you. "If I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say ‘Go down and indict them.' They'd be out of business, they'd be out of the election.” He also blamed the Democrats for his own evil, and in the process exposed more of his Swiss-cheese brain: "What they've done is, they've released the genie out of the...box." It's BOTTLE, genius. The Jack Smith Mar-a-Lago shocker: Potential witnesses against Trump? The receptionist, the head of maintenance, the housekeeper who cleans his bedroom suite and a woodworker who installed the Crown Molding in the bedroom (I'm guessing the color was gold). Trump was reportedly "ballistic" about the housekeeper. Could we get more obscure heroes like Alex Butterfield and Frank Wills? If you don't know them, you will. Another judge muddies the 14th Amendment case. In Michigan, Judge James Robert Redford (seriously) asks the suing attorney if the clause means you can only disqualify somebody AFTER he's been ELECTED? To which the lawyer aptly asks “That would require, what? The country to re-run an entire presidentical election?” And President Biden reminds us that his best re-election campaign ads would be ones in which he mocks Biden. Talking to auto workers yesterday he mocked him with instant success, and then doubled the laughter when he made the stations of the cross. B-Block (21:57) IN SPORTS: The Chicago White Sox suffer the greatest loss of free agency so far as play-by-play man Jason Benetti leaves for Detroit. The departure of Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell for the Cubs may not be the end of a retrenchment there. There might have been more of it around baseball at the General Mangers' Meeting - except it was cancelled a day early due to a raging virus that sent at least 10% of the executives to the restrooms. (25:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Nancy Mace is still getting skewered by Kevin McCarthy and by one remark she will never live down. New York rep Claudia Tenney is a veteran of making a fool of herself. She's done it again. And NewsNation - the Nick-At-Nite of TV News, hires yet another fired failure who doesn't have enough self-respect to find a different line of work. Megyn Kelly will moderate a GOP debate...free-lance? C-Block (32:05) FRIDAYS WITH JAMES THURBER: A selection of his shortest short stories: the fables, including his wonderful "The Unicorn In The Garden."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the Big Ten's punishment of Michigan, Bryce Young's struggles, and preview this weekends slate of games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 71: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: We are so goddamned afraid of OFFENDING somebody by DEFENDING democracy. The Minnesota State Supreme Court, whose Chief Justice is a pioneer and the daughter of a pioneer (the first African-American football coach at a predominantly white college in modern times) managed to find a way to NOT rule for OR against the bid to disqualify Trump from the ballot there via the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment IS self-executing. You ARE presumed guilty until you are proven innocent. It was designed by Americans who had survived the Civil War and didn't want us to have to go through that. If there are extenuating circumstances, there's an override mechanism: Congress can vote by 2/3 to waive application of the clause. Otherwise - you're out. Yet the Minnesota court has chosen the escape route, the way to shirk responsibility for fear of blowback or appeal or who knows what. Everybody placed in the position in which they can risk a little to defend freedom and the constitution rather than waiting until freedom and the constitution are DEAD and millions have to risk everything to restore them, seems to want to get out of it. Kristen Welker got out of it last night. That buffoon Vivek Ramaswamy, so loathsome that even Nikki Haley called him "scum" during the debate, pointed at Welker and demanded that she explain NBC's coverage of the Trump-Russia conspiracy. "Was that real or was that Hilary Clinton made-up misinformation." And instead of realizing he had just gifted her the chance to DO something for democracy - to speak to an audience consuming its first "mainstream media" in a decade and tell them the truth, whether they accepted it or not - she just smiled moronically at him. There's an extraordinary French film, La Regle du Jeu, The Rules Of The Game. It premiered on July 7th, 1939…354 days before France fell to the Nazis. It was written and directed by Jean Renoir and in it he plays the hero's buddy Octave and at one point Octave says something about the corruption and lack of morals and just plain lack of effort to stand up for what's right, and it's a quote that has come to symbolize the France that folded like a card table to the Hitler onslaught and the Vichy France full of more collaborators than the Germans believed possible. “You see, in this world, there is one awful thing,” Octave says, seemingly fighting back, and then gives up with a shrug, “and that is… that everyone has his REASONS.” We may be the 21st Century version of Pre-Hitler France. We all have our reasons to just shrug, or smile idiotically at hallucinating psychopaths who seem to believe more in (and are willing to fight more for) their delusions than we do about our reality. B-Block (24:42) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Lauren Boebert discovers that being in Congress means if it's a spending bill you have to talk about spending in the bill, courtesy Professor Steny Hoyer. I'm sure she'll eventually get a grip on it. For a day, Twitter's "NY Times Pitchbot" predicted it and finally Nate Cohn did it: the story explaining why Tuesday's Democratic ass-kicking of MAGA was bad news for Joe Biden. And remember Cygnal? The right wing pollster I praised here yesterday for reporting, though it defied their side's narrative, that Biden's "image" had jumped five points in just one month and voters ranking inflation as the key issue had dropped six points in just two months? They've responded by attacking me. For...quoting their press release hyping their own poll. When you are strangled by slavery to your own ideology... C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos is moving to Florida to be closer to his partner Lauren Sanchez. And as I've mentioned before, I used to work with her and she has now achieved her life goal. Just as I used to work with the guy who would eventually try to blackmail David Letterman and yeah, I think that might've been HIS life goal too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including if the Bears having the Panthers' 1st round pick after last year's trade is the most interesting part of their matchup tonight, if Bill Belichick is done in New England, and Booger McFarland joins the show for 5 Good Minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 2 EPISODE 70: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) ELECTION SCOREBOARD: Democrats and democracy kick MAGA's ass: another Trump off-year disaster as Republicans not only don't flip the Virginia Senate, they've lost the Virginia House! Deep discounts on "PRESIDENT YOUNGKIN 2024" Red Vests! In Ohio, it's a landslide as Issue 1 wins by 57-43 and puts Abortion Rights INTO the Ohio Constitution. And Kentucky Democratic Governor Andy Beshear goes from winning by 4000 votes four years ago, to winning by five points last night. Plus there are expansions of Democratic control in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It's another state-level disaster for Trump's GOP and what's the response of the CNN political director who whored himself out to get Trump live from that disastrous Kaitlan Collins Town Hall? David Chalian says "It's not the Democratic BRAND that's in trouble here, it's Joe Biden that's in trouble here." Actually that's not true either - and CNN should fire this idiot Chalian ASAP because it's CNN that's in trouble here. (9:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump managed to combine stochastic terrorism and his Dementia J. Trump/Elmer J. Fudd split personality in one post, insisting someone “must stop” people who don't realize he's worth billions more even than he claims. America's leading Parking Lot Legal Scholar Alina Habba insists they'll be filing for a mistrial because they didn't let Trump talk enough in court (oh, they let him talk enough in court). The good news is, Judge Chutkan shut them down on the latest delaying tactic. They wanted three more months for pre-trial motions; she told them she'll give them two weeks and they'll like it. And as more details emerge of Trump's plan for a military dictatorship, Jeff Clark, the mediocre little man who might be the Attorney General who oversees the transition of the DOJ into the Ministry of Vengeance will finally have to face having his law license suspended. While most reporting stays focused on Sunday's New York Times Biden poll crater, there's a new CNN poll that's a little better. And everybody ignores the work of a private, right-leaning pollster called Cygnal with eye-opening good news for President Biden. Not only has his net approval/disapproval improved a whopping five points in ONE MONTH but the issue seen as sinking Biden – inflation – is beginning to shrink its dominance. A year ago 42% said inflation was the key topic. Two months ago it was still 37%. Now it's down to 31%. The less it is decisive, the more it points to Biden's reelection. Still, Politico reports that after three months the Biden campaign has the results of its almost exclusively positive, issue-focused, non-Trump advertising: It's failed. Completely. The campaign is being urged to re-focus on Trump but remains reluctant, still convinced that Trump will be torn down enough by his Republican challengers (if it doesn't happen at tonight's debate, it won't). And more over, the question has to be raised: if you ARE selling Joe Biden's Greatest Accomplishments, isn't the first thing on that list, the fact that HE beat Trump? Wasn't the most vivid, youthful, meaningful moment of his presidency his Defense-Of-Democracy speech in Philadelphia last year? Isn't the greatest image of Biden, “Dark Brandon?” Joe? You beat him. You're the only one who has. We need you to do it again. And we need you to TELL US THAT. Not only WHY he and the evil he personifies and spreads MUST be defeated, but, bluntly, that you did it before and you will do it again: that you are the man to… beat the ever-loving shit out of him. B-BLOCK (30:49) IN SPORTS: Now begins the blowback. Wisconsin says goodbye and good riddance to no-longer-beloved-son Craig Counsell. The President of Mexico knows who the next manager of the Padres should be. And that drying up of the nourishing milk of ever-increasing TV fees for baseball? It just spread to basketball and hockey, where right now 26 teams are making $0 for telecasts during the 2024-25 season. (35:57) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Washington Post followed up on its Trump Dictatorship piece with more good analysis and a Bothsidesist headline that would've looked stupid even above a travel story. There's yet ANOTHER scandal for new 5th String Speaker Mike Johnson. And yesterday he was excoriating Rep. Tlaib for hate and prejudice. A month ago he was promising to turn Gaza into a parking lot. It isn't which side you're on – it's that violence and destruction are fine as long as you're MAGA. C-BLOCK (41:24) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The New York City Marathon ended Sunday night. I swear, there are people walking the streets of my Fun City, still wearing their gold medals indicating they ran the damn thing. It flashes me back to the days when the Marathon had to beg for me to do a preview for CNN, and to the nightmares I still have of anchoring the Los Angeles Marathon… on RADIO.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser come together to discuss the biggest topics in sports including if they think Big 10 teams sharing signs is as bad as Michigan's sign stealing, how the Cardinals should feel about Kyler Murray's return, and Kendrick Perkins joins the show for 5 Good Minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices