Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Trump’s remarks about allowing attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego spark a constitutional case for impeachment. Republicans, Fox News, and media executives appear to be distancing themselves from him, while the FBI faces accusations of manipulating its Most Wanted list. In sports, the mystery behind Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game is revisited, along with a personal Yankees story involving Chuck Knoblauch.

Trump’s promised Ohio payments become a symbol of Republican panic as Democrats surge in Senate and House races. The discussion moves through collapsing GOP campaigns, Trump’s combative interview and alleged reliance on AI, Cornell’s fraternity culture and institutional failures around sexual violence, and a taxpayer-funded propaganda controversy at MS Now. Baseball injuries and a James Thurber reading round out the program.

Trump’s contradictions spark Republican panic as candidates scrub him from campaign sites and strategists foresee major midterm losses. A bizarre fan letter leads to stories of early encounters with Trump. Plus, a takedown of Succession, the NHL’s disputed franchise history, and the risky frenzy over multimillion-dollar trading cards for active athletes.

Republicans begin distancing themselves from Donald Trump as candidates scrub his image, criticize the Iran war and rising prices, and watch independent and Hispanic support collapse. Trump sends mixed signals about the midterms while aides push to rename Ford’s Theatre after him. Also covered: media turmoil, baseball-record nitpicking, political blind spots, and Germany’s far-right surge.

A sharp critique of Trump’s White House media bans and the press’s response, plus predictions of a Democratic midterm surge. The discussion moves through Trump’s Iran threats, Greenland retreat, AI shutdown fantasies, and a security-risk Washington arch. Personal sports tributes lead into behind-the-scenes stories of MSNBC’s chaotic beginnings, Princess Diana coverage, the Farmer’s Almanac fiasco, and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Artificial intelligence meets political corruption, Trump family investments, and fears of weaponized space technology. The discussion turns to Epstein-linked connections, a proposed Ukraine settlement, Putin propaganda, and collapsing television ratings. The return of “Worst Persons” targets an AI assault video, ambassadorial nepotism, conspiracy politics, and a chaotic FBI hearing. It closes with television’s secret perk: free haircuts.

Satellite intelligence allegedly supplied to Iran thrusts China into a widening war, while Russian threats near Poland raise fears of a NATO confrontation. Trump faces pressure over Taiwan, Ireland, AI safeguards, and faltering political support. The discussion also covers a damaged Lincoln Reflecting Pool, Ari Fleischer’s Bush defenses, and a poignant reflection on Tim Russert’s newsroom ethics.

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - BULLETIN, SEPTEMBER 10 2026 An hour into his typical delusional speech at the Republican "Midterm Convention" in Texas last night Trump actually said something different: he offered each adult American $5,000 in a "tariff dividend" if the Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate in the midterms. Without a lot of people being excluded from the bribe that would cost taxpayers $1 Trillion. Bribing voters is completely illegal under a federal law passed in 1948 - although it's debatable whether or not it applies here. It's also debatable about whether or not Trump would pay off on his promised palm greasing. He didn't deliver the "little tariff rebate" of "at least $2,000 each" last December, nor the "Doge Dividend" of last February. Still, it indicates the desperation of Trump, underwater in all swing states with his candidates trailing Democrats in all key Senate races and the GOP privately conceded Congress. And it could be a crime to offer it. Or - please note - to receive it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - SEASON 5 EPISODE 3 A-Block (SPECIAL COMMENT) Am I the only one who noticed this? Is the news media so compliant, so dead, not to recognize Trump newly bending the knee not to America but to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin? The story was so easily told just by the sequence and yet it gave our newsmen and our supposed liberal commentators the proverbial haircut. I'll walk you through it. THERE IS REASON TO HOPE we will be able to rein the monster in. Newest polling from Michigan: el-Sayed is up by three, Trump's tariffs are underwater 60-40 with non-college voters and he's only got 41% support among them. The Democrat could grow several points as the Trump haters come round to him. AND WHAT IS ANTISEMITISM? Criticizing Israel? No. Criticizing Trump? Certainly not. How about coming out and saying that Jewish people are only Jewish if they look Jewish to you? And if they don't and still claim to be Jewish, you want to see a map of their DNA. Because no past dictator ever tried that formula did they, Elon Musk? B-Block 40:00 (SPECIAL COMMENT: 9/11) I won't inundate you about 9/11 but one of Zohran Mamdani's critics thinks Osama bin Laden is still alive, and another one is Rudy Giuliani, of all the former mayors of New York the one whose worldview comes closest to al-Qaeda's. Anybody remember when after 9/11 Rudy tried to seize power as an unelected quasi-dictator of New York? Plus some of my reporting from that time 25 years ago. C-Block 1:10:00 (SPORTSBALL CENTER TONIGHT) Can collective amnesia in baseball be cured by Performance Enhancing Drugs? A theoretical question for you fans of the diamond doings. Plus my unusual appearance in the new biography of Renee Richards, and an unexpected comp from Peter Gammons: me and...Hunter S. Thompson?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maria Bartiromo is abruptly fired by Fox after allegedly forwarding internal instructions about Trump’s China election claims to the White House. The discussion explores Rupert Murdoch’s role, a reported pattern of retaliation, and a past Dodgers story that sparked corporate tensions. It also considers Bartiromo’s possible political future and the fallout from her break with Fox.