TRUMP LAUNCHES HIS PLOT TO STEAL THE MID-TERMS - 10.26.26

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - SEASON 5 EPISODE 16 A-Block (SPECIAL COMMENT): Trump's doctors are not asking him to tell the difference between a snake and a giraffe because he CAN tell the difference between a snake and a giraffe! They're asking him because in private he must be showing continual signs that HE CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SNAKE AND A GIRAFFE! We've lost the truth behind Trump's boast about his "perfect scores" on "IQ tests" and all those doctors who stick by him even if you in the crowd are dying. This is not like taking his BP every day. The tests have to be to confirm he's not nuts - not TODAY anyway. Since it's a given the countless psych doctors Trump boasts about are there because metaphorically speaking Trump isn't, can't some of them put him away? Institutionalize him? Or failing that, couldn't one of them go public? On behalf of mankind? Risk everything (and by the way, sure you'd stop being a Trump doctor. Instead you'd become Psychology Jesus and an instant World Hero forever and make billions from a grateful planet).

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - SEASON 5 EPISODE 15 A-Block (SPECIAL COMMENT) Trump has proved it again and Trump has proved it anew. He is owned by Russia. Only, this time, even rabid Conservatives are realizing it's true. The National Review is out with a new article insisting "Congress Must Investigate Trump's Aid and Comfort to Putin." That, again, is our Constitution's terminology for treason. And a rabid right winger, Dan McLaughlin, who still somehow thinks Trump's previous conspiracies with Putin were simply rhetorical, now says "this time The Wolf comes as a Wolf." The tipping point was Trump's gutting of the sanctions against oil and diesel sales by Russia. And the right is also reacting to Trump's attempt to get the nearly $300 billion in Russian assets in Europe, either to keep himself or return to Putin. There is no telling what's next after Trump dug still further yesterday by not merely endorsing Netanyahu (who cares) but trying to blackmail Israel. "If Israel has the wrong leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so." He's threatening to lessen or pull U.S. support for Israel. Remember Trump, in the classic mindlessness of the antisemite that he is, believes American Jews are more or equally loyal to Israel. If so, did he not just destroy Republican chances with them? Should they not rise up and neuter him and his movement? B-BLOCK (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD. So many nominees I'm handing out six medals! Stephen Miller makes an orientation joke about Talarico while Trump is checking out men's backsides. A guy fired by Fox thinks Nixon was innocent. Elon Musk turns out to be the sole owner and proprietor of Ken Paxton. Stephen A. Smith solves the world's problems by saying don't worry, he has "pressed" Trump on several issues over dinner. CBS must fire legal correspondent Jan Crawford after she thanks a bigoted right-winger who tried to troll Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan over the weekend, and congratulates him on getting him to "self-own." Who in the hell is she to be taking a political advocacy position? Even at CBS? And JD Vance gets called the b-word by a liberal and the floodgates have opened because guess what? He is. C-BLOCK (37:00) SPORTSBALLCENTER. My modest proposal: The Baseball World Series will feature two of three cities who have combined to play 227 seasons in which there's been a World Series or equivalent. To show for it they have three World Series wins, and the 1895 Temple Cup. This is not going to be a big TV draw. So why not take back what baseball once had in the glory days of 40,000,000 viewers per game? Grab a sports-exclusive window. Play games during weekdays. I mean, how could it hurt? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - SEASON 5 EPISODE 14 Bulletin - Trump confirms press secretary Katie Zacharia (in Monday, out before close of business Friday) is out as Press Secretary. "I told her I think you are better off being happy. I'm not sure you can ever be happy in this job." Trump said she may stay in the administration in "a more pleasant form" and a White House source says she is "transitioning out" of the role she occupied for about 100 hours. Though she clearly lied about whether she was a lawyer, an attorney, or the perfectly respectable position she tried to hide - that she had a law degree but never was admitted to the bar - that was not the cause here. Lying is a plus in this administration. She was fired because the revelations surprised Trump and at his stage of mental deterioration he can't handle any more surprises.

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - SEASON 5 EPISODE 13 A-Block (SPECIAL COMMENT): The President is insane. I know you know this – we all know this. But – days after a disturbed man climbed into a tiger enclosure in England and was mauled to death, Trump posted a video of another man in a lion enclosure. He captioned it “Don’t ever mess with nature.” Almost immediately afterwards he posted ANOTHER video of a series of similar incidents, at least half a dozen lions killing people. One tiger. No caption this time. Just grisly, horrifying, death. Five hours later, as if to mock the disturbed man who died in the tiger enclosure – he posted an AII video of himself tackling a tiger, then playing with it – as if to prove HE wouldn’t meet the same end as the disturbed man in England did. I first wrote and commented on Trump's genuine mental instability a decade ago in "Could Trump Pass A Sanity Test?" for Vanity Fair. He's not getting better. He's posting snuff films. The President is insane. And every once in awhile it is absolutely necessary to underscore this truth – to ourselves, for the record, for the future – if there is one. And it shows up in his daily decisions, like appointing a Press Secretary who won't take questions and can't read aloud (although why are kind of looking at this backwards. She's humiliating him - why is this a BAD THING?). Throttling internet and warning systems for Ukraine because he told them they'd agreed to an "energy cease fire" - only they hadn't. There's also a series of smaller stories including how we should almost feel bad for Kim Guilfoyle, but not for Megyn Kelly. And how we definitely should try to figure out where in the cabinet a Democratic County Council candidate in Indiana best fits in, because she is out of Effs and I'd take her as Senate Leader instead of Schumer. B-1 (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I've never told this story before, it's 40 years ago, but way back then a respected producer in Hollywood believed I was the perfect host for a show he was developing called... YOUR FACE OR MINE. I'm afraid you're going to have to listen to find out why the heck he thought this was a winning title. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - SEASON 5 EPISODE 12 A-Block (SPECIAL COMMENT): 31% of those who voted for Trump just 707 days ago now DISAPPROVE of his presidency. His approval rating among those who voted for him was 95% on January 20, 2025. It is now just 67%. There is no other word for this: it is a collapse within his base. Even if they do not go to the polls to punish him, and even if a large percentage of those in the new Pew/USA Today poll saying they do not approve actually blame somebody else for his failure, it portends a midterm calamity for MAGA and the GOP so large that it could trigger the avalanche in which the Democrats not only get both houses, but are left with enough terrified Republican Senators up for re-election in '28 that they'll abandon Trump in January '27. This overlooked outcome overshadowed a busy week of lying and traitoring and repeating himself. Trump's newest treason? He is buying oil from Putin that he himself sanctioned only 25 days ago. His latest repeated lie? He announced an "energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia" yesterday (American media had already forgotten he already announced an "energy ceasefire" just one month ago). And oh by the way he's also trying to start a race war in Minnesota and New York and America. And it turns out he literally can't find America on a map - or a globe. B-Block (SPORTSBALLCENTER TONIGHT): You think the spectacle of Mike Tyson - whose life Donald Trump ruined nearly 40 years ago - was shocking to YOU? Through marriage and adoption Mike is my cousin. Also Bob Costas has additional details on the Don Larsen Perfect Game Batters' Eye controversy, and the baseball "final four" belies the owners' argument for a salary cap, and the White Sox choke requires the invocation again of one of the greatest things the great writer Jean Shepherd ever wrote: The White Sox and the Military Suicide Mission. C-Block (THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL): We all have something we are eternally ashamed of. For some of us, we knew before it happened that it would be eternally shameful. I'm in that group: I once worked for Rupert Murdoch. What can I tell you? It helped set me up for life financially AND it got me out of the nightmare of covering the Republicans hunting Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton. The whole gory story, in detail. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.