EPISODE 77: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: God what a terrible speech! Trump's official declaration he's running was so bad Fox News bailed out of it! And CNN bailed out of it! And Mick Mulvaney trashed it. And two ex-Trump Press Secretaries. AND DURING IT IVANKA TRUMP ANNOUNCED SHE'S LEAVING POLITICS! (5:00) The mainstream GOP continues to distance itself; Fox News lists 13 GOP presidential possibilities - none of them are Trump (5:40) Chris Christie trashes Trump to GOP Governors conference, gets applauded (8:30) These are not moral judgments, not patriotic ones, not decency ones, not pro-democracy ones. But these people have the survival instincts of cockroaches and somebody just flipped on every kitchen light in America (8:40) Even crazy Wendy Rogers in Arizona is wondering if she's been living in an echo chamber (11:15) And yet there's just enough loyalists to remain to make sure if the GOP can keep Trump at bay, he'll run as a third party candidate in 2024. They were the ones outside Trump Tower yesterday screaming "Trump or Death" - to which we say "OFFER ACCEPTED!"

B-Block (15:31) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Elsa in Brooklyn (16:26) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Latest on the Russian missile or rocket that hit Poland; (18:14) IN SPORTS: Angels with their annual dubious free agency signing; Richard Nixon's alma mater ends 107 years of football; and the merchandisers of the NBA finally outsmart themselves (22:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Republicans keeping 50-99% of what they raise for Herschel Walker and Fox's Kevin Corke are no match for Worst Persons Hall of Famer Bill O'Reilly - he's baaaack!

C-Block (26:43) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: O'Reilly's contretemps with the "News Nation" channel reminded me Dan Abrams has a show there, on the cable tv news version of 'Nick-At-Nite.' And THAT reminded me of the day MSNBC tried to switch the disrespected Abrams from hosting its unpopular 9 PM show, to being network General Manager. After the staff stopped laughing, it wound up being worse than we could have dreamed. Within ONE WEEK management had reassured us he would be fired. He became a Lame Duck in ONE WEEK!

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