SEASON 4 EPISODE 4: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Hey have fun watching Trump's "listening exercise" with Putin in Alaska today. No, Russia. No, Alaska. I don’t know any more. Listening exercise.” Trump listening to Putin telling him what to do. No crap.

This is simple. Trump and Putin will leave this photo-op having agreed on something utterly agreeable to Putin. Like the cease fire Axios reports Trump told European leaders yesterday he really wants. You know what THAT could be: Putin will agree to a cease-fire if Ukraine will stop annoying Putin by defending its territory. Then Trump will claim a victory. Then Ukraine will reject it – although President Zelensky’s real play is to say it is too naïve an idea to even merit a comment, and any child can see that – then Trump will blame Zelensky and say he resolved the war except for the war part. That Zelensky screwed it up.

Actually it may be worse. The Times of London headline: “US and Russia ‘propose West Bank-style occupation of Ukraine." Per its source close to the U.S. national security council: "It’ll just be like Israel occupies the West Bank. With a governor, with an economic situation that goes into Russia, not Ukraine. But it’ll still be Ukraine, because … Ukraine will never give up its sovereignty. But the reality is it’ll be occupied territory and the model is Palestine.”

THIS IS THE TEST MARKETING OF THE MILITARY DICTATORSHIP: Trump says sure he'll go to Congress to get the use of troops authorized in DC past the 30-day limit. Or he'll just declare a national emergency. He boasts he closed the border and didn't get anybody's permission. He is moving towards the takeover. We are this close to him in the Kim Jong Un hat.

THE TRUMPSTEIN COVER-UP CONTINUES: Karoline "Noble Prize" Leavitt explains Trump “wants to see credible evidence released." The part she leaves out is that of course he wants to make sure that this evidence is NOT released. Some of the evidence about Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer has been revealed and somebody tampered with her prisoner status and she may now be free to leave Club Fed during the day.

AND JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT Marjorie Taylor Greene wasn't the dumbest of them all - oh yes she is.

B-Block (34:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: CNN's Kasie Hunt says sure crime is down by a quarter in DC but does it FEEL like it's down? Andrew Cuomo finds another opponent he can beat: Muhammad Ali's most famous quote. And if OK! Magazine has the story right, Jeff Bezos has found the next Bond Girl: MRS. Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez.

C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Missed the anniversary by twelve days but it's always in the back of my mind anyway. Literally one month into my career and only the seventh time my bosses trusted me enough to leave me alone on a sportscasting shift at our 1,000-station radio network, Thurman Munson - catcher and captain of the New York Yankees - was killed when the plane he was still learning how to fly crashed at an Ohio airport. And the news came across my wire one minute before my sportscast.

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Quentin Tarantino