"THE ART OF THE NO-DEAL" ON ICE - 1.29.26

12 snips

Jan 29, 2026

Fiery critique of ICE and calls to disband or rebuild it under strict bipartisan oversight. Sharp condemnation of Senate weakness over reform and discussion of using political leverage, even shutdowns. Breakdown of Trump administration infighting and reports of his alarming behavior. A new Bruce Springsteen protest song is introduced and played.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

No Compromise On ICE

Keith Olbermann argues ICE must be disbanded, not cosmetically reformed.
He says any compromise now hands Trump PR and resources to continue abuses.

INSIGHT

Concessions Won't Stop Violence

Olbermann frames ICE actions as part of a deliberate Trump strategy of distraction and escalation.
He warns small concessions (body cams, codes) only improve PR without stopping violence.

ADVICE

Demand Structural Replacement

Olbermann urges Senate Democrats to demand abolish-or-rebuild terms and bipartisan control.
He lists specific must-haves: new agency name, independent investigations, bans near polling places.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

SEASON 4 EPISODE 54: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: At this moment, the biggest threat to the future of democracy at this minute is Chuck Schumer.

He and the other members of the milquetoast caucus of Senate Democrats are ready to give away their chance to turn MAGA's panic over the ICE murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti (and Keith Porter Jr) into a forced re-structure of the entire damnable structure. Instead of demanding a new organization with bipartisan control and a blanket ban on any activity near polling places or in fact in the week before an election, Schumer is willing to sell that for four trivial concessions.

He's willing to forfeit the last chance to get these death squads off our streets in exchange for a "uniform code of conduct," the end of "roving patrols," the discontinuation of masks, and the use of body cameras. Because obviously the threat that ICE's next slaughter of an innocent bystander will be captured on video completely kept these Trump Death Squads from killing Alex Pretti.

It's beyond Schumer's usual naiveté. It's criminally negligent. He shouldn't just be ousted as Minority Leader, he should be expelled from the Senate. Trump blames Bovino. Bovino blames Noem. Noem blames Miller. Miller blames Border Patrol. Roger Stone blames Lewandowski. Trump blames the 2nd Amendment. They're imploding, Chuck. Get out of their way, you moron.

ROBERT FICO: Slovakia’s pro-Trump prime minister who last year spoke at CPAC (it's pronounced Fitso) was quoted by five Politico sources as having been shaken after a meeting with Trump on the 17th, alarmed by Trump's "psychological state" and convinced Trump was "out of his mind." Denials all around.

(33:00) BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: If you didn't know, Saturday he wrote an ICE protest song. Uploaded it to social media yesterday. Calls 'em all out by name, including "King Trump." Chills. With Bruce's kind permission, we're playing it in the podcast. Superb stuff. I wish Bruce were Senate minority leader.

B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A News Nation moron reduces the death of Alex Pretti to a "scrum." Melania doesn't know her icons from her iconoclasts. And Katie Miller insists all Conservative women are far more attractive than all Liberal women. You have to give her credit: who knew she had gotten this far with such devastatingly impaired vision?

C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Just past the anniversary, now 45 years, since a famed New York morning disc jockey responded to something I said on the air one hour by threatening to kill me, and then responded to something I said on the air the next hour by trying to hire me full-time on his station. The Ted Brown Saga - revisited.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.