MUSK AND TRUMP ARE STAGING A COUP (AND HOW TO STOP IT) - 2.3.25

so and called it money laundering. Musk's hatchetmen are literally inside the government right now demanding that leaders of the US Agency for International Development turnover classified documents inside restricted areas, and those that have refused have been placed on leave by Elon effing Musk. Quote it's a coup. Elon Musk is running a palace coup. Elon Musk is taking classified information.

Elon Musk has taken your social Security number. Everybody involved should be arrested by local das if that's all we can do, and denied bail. Unquote a Democratic senator, representative, governor, mayor somebody needs to stand in front of microphones today and say that quote today, and say that that bluntly today and quote Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump might as well have killed those teenage skaters on American five three

four to two themselves. The DC crash was their fault, period unquote, some other Democratic leader, maybe the new head of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, elected Saturday's got to say that. What he has said is we're taking the gloves off. I've always viewed my role as a chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road so my candidates, an elected official can take the high road,

meaning I'm going to throw a punch unquote. Good start swinging, Kenny, because the first step towards stopping wrong is by publicly and loudly yelling this is wrong. A Minnesota colleague described the new DNC chair quote, Ken will cut you if he has to. Well, I'll bring the metaphorical ginsu set because right now where we actually are is the nominal

leading Democratic office holder is Senator Chuck Schumer. And as Trump and Musk began to ransack your Social Security number and starting trade wars with our literally closest allies, Chuck Schumer social media Saturday afternoon was You're worried about tomato prices, and ten minutes later you're watching the Super Bowl. Wait, old Trump's tariffs, raise your guacamole and beer prices. Useless, utterly useless. I need one thousand Ken Martins throwing punches

today and metaphorically cutting a maggi today. I need them saying this is a coup. We will stop it. It will take time, we will beat them and jail them though, because bottom line is they are lazy and they leave half their lives to chance. Just look at their goddamned haircuts.

And those thousand Ken Martins must also say. The crash of the US Army helicopter and the death of the service personnel on a continuity of government training exercise in public space Thursday night was Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett's responsibility. The crash of a medical flight in East Philadelphia Friday night was Acting FAA Chief Chris Rochelo's responsibility. The FAA warning system went down over the weekend, and that is

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy's responsibility. The cancelation of care for two teenage transgender patients in New York was Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Junior's responsibility. Musk has been given access to your tax dollars and your records, no supervision, no accountability. We don't even know what he's taken. The deal maker did this. Your money has been given away, Your privacy has been given away.

That is Trump's fault. And hegseeth incompetent, unstable, useless. Your typical Trump employee is Trump's fault. And Rochalo plucked out of an aviation industry lobbying firm because Trump hadn't put anybody in charge of the FAA after Musk forced out the last chief of the FAA. Rochlo is Trump's fault. And Kennedy burned out by drugs, faithless, perverted, probably not

wearing pants is Trump's fault. And if you find holes in any of these conclusions, if you see inconsistencies in the assignment of blame like this, if you flinch it saying heg sith might as well have killed the servicemen and the ice skaters, bury all of your flinching, drop

the details, and negate the nuance. View all events as Trump has viewed them, View them only in black and white, as events he can falsely take credit for and exploit, or as events he can falsely blame on others and still exploit because that whatever form of government that is blameocracy, conspiratory, gotcha, authoritarian.

That is how the United States of America runs at the moment, and the battle to restore democracy or at least representative government with one or two checks and maybe balances for an hour or two a week, that battle begins in a symbolic knife fight for the simplest, most raw,

lowest common denominator discourse. Trump must be blamed every day for everything, by every Democrat, by every still rational Republican, by every patriotic American, With Trump dismantling the government as we speak, with the actual bureaucrats who know how to run the Office of Management and Budget being locked out of their computers by Elon Musk's minions in a blatantly illegal internal push, with the National Transportation Safety Board privatizing

its media interactions by putting them exclusively on the pro Nazi social media site x and with Trump unilaterally flooding central California so he can say he stopped the next wildfires in southern California, hundreds of miles away, and with all of them firing career prosecutors at dj and career investigators at the FBI because they dared to investigate Trump

and Trump's criminals. With Trump's institution of tariffs so that American manufacturers can take more money out of your pocket, either at the cash register or in their irs returns, with Trump's metaphorical serial killing spree against America in full swing, he has declared war on us, and we must win it by being more successful, more ruthless, more destructive towards him than he is towards us. And it starts with yelling. I want a dozen leading Democrats calling news conferences to

day around the country. I want them talking about the coup. I want them talking about how Mike Flynn got sensitive data about Lutheran charities. I want them stating Trump is responsible for the sixty seven deaths on American Eagle five three four to two and the Army Blackhawk. And I want them saying heg Seth didn't announce the helicopter was on a continuity of government training mission. He confessed it.

Heg Seth confessed that he put a chopper with trainees in the path of a jet full of teenage girls flying back from Kansas unqualified trainees under heg Set's own umbrella and flying on behalf of the Trump administration. Heg Seth put that helicopter above the busiest civilian runway in the nation. That is Pete Hegsath's accident. And those are Donald Trump's deaths. And if that seems brutal or cold, or low or exploitative, just remind yourself what Trump tried

to do in the hours after the crash. He blamed Dei, he blamed Biden, he blamed Obama. The Democrats have to not just answer in kind, they have to symbolically break Trump in half as they answer, this wasn't DEEI, it was Doge, This wasn't Biden, This wasn't Lloyd Austin's helicopter, it was Pete Hegseet's. I apologize to the families. You are already being exploited in this. Then again, you have been exploited by Trump before many of you were notified

of this tragedy. This is Donald Trump's America. We are trying to stop him because this will become permanent and uncontrollably evil if we do not stop him now. And for further clarification, when I say Democrats have to do and say these things. I mean individual democrats. I do not mean leadership in the House and the Senate if any, I mean Alexandria Acossio Cortez, I mean Adam Schiff, I mean Gavin Newsom, I mean JB. Pritzker, I mean anybody

thinking of running for any office ever again. Because Chuck Schumer and a Keen Jeffries had their chance, their response as Trump strafes and carpet bombs America with American weapons was to see him pardon his insurrectionist terrorists on the night of his inauguration and to gather their rapid response team and hold an emergency Senate Democrats news conference literally only six effing days later. We need a Democrat with

name recognition to step up and take over. Appear online, mega statement, take media questions within minutes of the next atrocity Trumps off, call news conferences for an hour from now, schedule a news conference weekly, preferably on Sunday, and then find something to blame on Trump or Musk or both of them, or all of them. I mean, how in the hell do you think Chuck Schumer rose to prominence

in the first place. Chuck Schumer used to hold a news conference every Sunday in New York on the street, whether there was any news to conference about or not, because he knew there was not enough news to fill the local newscasts in New York or to put in

the local newspapers in New York every Monday. So every Sunday there's Congressman Schumer, who said, there's Senator Schumer, who said there's Leader Schumer, who said, there's Schumer who thought guacamole was more important than a coup, which is why we got rid of him. But use the early Schumer as a template the twenty first century version of this. Have you ever seen anything on one of the Sunday

shows that happened that day? Occasionally an interview of well stenography of a fascist will take over the news cycle, but usually it's Saturday's news on the Sunday shows or Friday's news. It's almost as slow as the Democratic response to anything. But the Democrat who begins to hold eight am news conferences every Sunday morning, who metaphorically shives Trump or the fascist of the week and metaphorically, like Ken

Martin cuts them, that would lead every Sunday show. It would be carried live on the cable networks at least, but it would lead every Sunday network show. It would blow Trump right out of the tub in terms of media attention. And it would not just lead the Sunday shows. It would lead most of the Monday shows. It would be most of the Monday columns. Columnists, and the Sunday shows are still viable. They still drive the agenda, at least for Sunday and Monday, because they operate in a vacuum.

Steal the goddamn vacuum from them. There is in life nothing worse than getting up early on Sunday morning. But I have faith in you, AOC. Get a good night's sleep, get up early and nuke Trump every Sunday morning, live at eight am, and help save the nation and help get yourself a presidential nomination Democrats. Judgment cometh and that right soon. Of course, it cannot stop there, and it doesn't have to be AOC. Anybody willing to do this.

Gavin Newsom live at five am Pacific time, eight am Eastern every Sunday with a news conference about whatever Trump just did. Take over the news cycle. Force your way past Trump, make him stand in back of you, make him respond to you every Sunday. And it can't stop there, whoever's doing it. It must be extended into the Senate and into the House, and it requires an attitude adjustment that the Democratic Party may or may not be able

to sustain. Senator Shift, showing signs of life, aptly declared the purge at the DOJ and FBI the Friday Night massacre, whereupon norm Ornstein told Schiff to have Senate Democrats unleash the weapons in their arsenal blanket holds, no committee hearings. When the Senate is in session, every bill read in its entirety on the floor, denial of unanimous consent and more the Senate hold. The Senate hold can create more

chaos than anything else currently in the Democrats quiver. The standing rules of the Senate require unanimous consent before anything comes to the floor. One senator or a small group of them, or a bunch of them can literally stall anything for years. The senator tells party leadership of intent to object to a motion to consider a bill. They don't even have to make it public. They can do it anonymously. Republicans do it all the time, and it works and it's wrong and it's evil, but it works,

and right now we need what works. In December twenty twenty two, after Trump's Supreme Court killed Roe v. Wade, the Pentagon guaranteed that pregnant service members would get leave and reimbursement of travel for abortions where they were still protected by law. The Dumbo, the elephant of the Senate,

Tubberville tantrumed. On February sixteenth, twenty twenty three, Tuberville announced he was putting a hold on all new Pentagon nominees, even as the Democratic majority railed against how much Tubby was endangering the nation doing so, he dug in. On only a few occasions could the majority overcome Tubberville. Via cloture motions, one senator holding up every promotion inside the Pentagon,

three hundred nominations were blocked. One of the few that was not, the Marine Corps Commandant Eric Smith, was confirmed, but Tuberville blocked the nomination of his deputy, and five weeks later Commandant Smith had a heart attack. Tuberville still would not relent. Days later, Democrats, now with the help of the Republicans, nominated sixty one more officers. Tuberville blocked them all by partisan opposition, and the hold could not

be broken. Not until December did Tuberville give up, and he still in giving up block the promotion of eleven four star officers. One asshole did this. One asshole, failed football coach, white supremacist, misogynistic moron bastard did this. There are forty five Democratic Senators, plus Bernie Sanders and Angus King. They all have pairs of shoes that are smarter than

Tommy Tuberville. They should be meeting today to decide if they want to assign who puts the holds on what based on their our own specific interests in a topic or topics, or whether it should go rotational, or whether it should go by seniority. But they must all put a Senate hold on something all the effing time. Shut the effing Senate down. Trump gets nothing through without pain and grief and something to enrage him, something to slow

down the momentum of his mechanism of despotism. Nothing you want to grind the government to a halt, Trump, you ain't seen nothing yet. Our terms are give us musk and then we will stop holding everything. The other elements Ornstein mentioned to shift for just icing every bill read in full, no committee hearings, no unanimous consent, no Democratic support of anything, and inside the Democratic Senate Caucus, no bipartisanship. The death penalty. If Fetterman wants to collaborate with the Nazis,

have fun. Senator Cannimate, you are expelled from the party. I mean, we are down fifty three to forty seven in the Senate right now. Fifty four forty six. Ain't that much worse? And if Fetterman does not get the message. If you think Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania is pretty popular, how popular do you think Democratic Senate primary challenger Josh Shapiro would be. As to the House, the assignment is much simpler and easier. A. Is the House in session? If so, then B is it a day of the

week ending in why? If so? Then C. Trump has just done something impeachable. Introduce a motion to impeach, or inquire, or inquire and impeach. He gave Musk, who is not a government official, has been voted for by no one, not even Republicans. He gave Musk, who is responsible to no one, least of all himself, veto power over all government payments and the computers with which to effect this.

There should be people arrested over this in the interim move to impeach Trump because of what Musk is doing. There are ninety nine weeks left until New Year's Day twenty twenty seven. Give Trump ninety nine impeachment problems, and publicity about his latest violation of his oath of office should be one of them every week. The Democrats don't

like to use these weapons. One Congressional aid, carrying on a valiant fight on social media, says a clenched fist approach will firm up support for Trump in the Senate among Republicans and drive away any Republicans in the House looking for a way out. And who would they be? Trump already killed them all off, all but a handful in unique safe circumstances, like Senator Murkowski. I don't know if there are any in the House. What is the House doing? The House is trying to get Trump a

third term. Who is it that you are going to negotiate with? Who is it that you expect is going to stop Trump? It's been ten years. None of them have had the balls to even stand up to him. The Democrats need to understand that Trump is running not just another January sixth right now, but a whole series of them, only without the intermediaries and without hitting the Capitol police with stun guns and bike racks. Democrats have to understand and state Trump is the enemy. Trump is

the fifth column. Trump is destroying America. Trump has stolen your Social Security number. Trump maybe next steal your Social Security money. Apocalyptic terms, because it's an apocalypse. Trump is the enemy. Republicans are his brown shirts, and the Democrats are America's only chance. And if you are not willing to accept this reality, Democrats, and accept this responsibility and act in defense of the nation, Democrats, guess what we are going to need? New Democrats and god damned fast.

One thing we must not have, not now, certainly, not immediately, certainly though, is public protest. That is more than likely what Trump is trying to instigate. The flood, the zone stuff, in addition to overwhelming the media, have to try to do that. He wants protests preferably large, preferably menacing, preferably full of non white people warde protest he can either incite to violence or if they remain peaceful, that he can lie about and tell his gang that they were violent.

He wants to gas civilians. You you listening to this right now. He wants to hit you with tear gas to start with, he wants to do it the way he did it on June first, twenty twenty outside of the church. And then he wants to shoot you. And then he wants over your prostrate body to help use your carcass to invent an organized internal enemy. Because he

is following Hitler's playbook, there's no question of it. Now threatened to invade your neighboring countries, the idea of his opponents turning out to be part of a vast conspiracy to burn down whatever his reichs dog is going to be. That's the excuse he needs to convince any remaining reluctant Republicans in government or out to embrace him as the

dictator saving white people from a manufactured threat. Trump's Goebbels and Hesses and Borman's want nothing more than a new Black Lives Matter movement to hit the streets, regardless of the rightness of the cause, regardless of the peacefulness of the protests. It would be a gift to Trump, and it would accelerate the full implementation of his dictatorship. There may be a time, and it may come soon when we have nothing left but to take to the streets

and let the chips fall where there may. That is not the time right now. This is, in fact, probably the worst time right now. This is not even yet the right time for the ten strike. This is not yet the time for consumer goods boycott. This is not yet the time to fully abandon the mechanisms available to

the Democrats within government and with media platforms. If we want to protest, if we want to take to the streets, we are better served right now going to Chuck Schumer's office and protesting there in one desperate bid to see if we can get him and Jeffries and others to deal with today's crises today, And to start by declaring that Musk and Trump are running another coup right now, or a dozen of them, and that heg Seth and Trump and the Republican Party killed the service members on

the black Hawk and killed the passengers on the American Eagle flight. And I make no attempt to hide my feeling of disgust just saying that, nor my sense of it all being disgustingly unclean, and I wish there were another way, but we have got to win this war. And the other side it has all of these weapons, and the only ones we have are those they have stupidly handed us. Use them, and use them now, and they begin with yelling. Also have interest here in an

all new edition because the other way is collaboration. And five of the news organizations that did their best to be VC media have gotten their reward. Trump has thrown them all under the bus. Anyway. That and the sports trade deals so bad it must have been ordered by Trump. That's next. This is Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Olberman coming up on an all new edition of Countdown

Worst Persons. Some listeners thought I was being hyperbolic when I said Press Secretary Caroline Levitt had called Hitler hilter like an amany Python sketch. I was not being hyperbolic. Let's go to the videotape next. First, in an all new edition of Countdown. Some headlines, some updates, some snark, and some postscripts to the news. This is the Countdown podcast, and these are the places where there's news, dateline capitulation nation.

So here's how it's going with all those erstwhile news organizations that bent over backwards to try to appease Trump. And remember that to truly bend over backwards, you have to have no spine. CBS began internal discussions to settle a bullshit lawsuit by Trump over the editing of an interview with Kamala Harris, because if the point was to chill journalism, CBS was the exact right spot to find

scaredy pat owners. So they began to talk at CBS about paying fifteen million dollars to quote settle the lawsuit and the goggles that Trump then appointed to run the FCC decided to begin his tenure by announcing that he wants the transcripts of the CBS Harris interview and is investigating CBS because the Trump monsters are going to use the laws to punish people who don't advocate for Trump,

and those monsters must be stopped. Next, the guy will want the video of the CBS Harris interview turned over to the FCC, and of course, way down there at the end of this path to hell, this guy will want Kamala Harris herself turned over to the FCC. Dateline the Pentagon On Friday, Zach Stanton, writing the Politico Playbook newsletter after Ryan Liza got the heave ho after the whole thing with Miviy Muzi, wrote one of the suckiest

suck up things yet written about Trump. Quote. The prevailing sense at the end of week one was that Trump two point oh was altogether more polished and professional than Trump one point oh. This time around, so the thinking went, the administration would be able to execute on its goals with strategic precision, an impression bolstered by the blitz of well prepared executive actions that defined his initial days back on the job. That's the long version of and thus

Donald Trump finally became president. Nice try Zack Stanton of Politico. Later the same day, the Pentagon announced that there would be some changes made in the press. Cubby holes provided in the building for correspondence to work out of. The TV ones even have little TV cameras in them. The New York Post, breitbarta NN, and huff Post will be getting spaces in the Pentagon. Huff Post really gonna move a gossip columnist into the Pentagon. I mean, it's as

silly as oh Ann. Anyway, the spaces they will be getting were the press spaces occupied by NPR, which has been desperately trying to curry favor with the right for at least a year, and the New York Times. That's the New York Times. As in the New York Times, we can both sides anything in our headlines department. And NBC good call on giving Trump the free pass throughout the campaign and that lightweight interview on Meet the Press, and of course Politico. Politico space is now going to

like Breitbart. All four ousted news organizations tried to appease. Politico tried three hours before they were thrown out. Do not appease, Never appease, Do not bring a bouquet of roses to a flame thrower fight. And Dateline Washington next up, trying to prove it can be good little propagandists Semaphore News. I'm going to read you it's very colorful, very unbelievable press release as written at Semaphore. I beg you to believe me. I beg you. This is not satire. I

am not that talented. I could never write nor conceive of anything this tone death obviously wrong and completely stupid. Semaphore innovating to restore trust in news a national summit. Semaphore has set plans for a National Trust in News Summit next month, with the focus on how the media rebuilds public trust amid a Gallop poll showing record low approval.

The event to be held on February twenty seventh that Gallup's headquarters in Washington, DC, is hosted by co founder and CEO Justin Smith if that is your real name, and co founder and editor in chief Ben Smith, if that is your real name. Those confirmed to participate so far, let me exit reading this press release to just remind you I did not write this. This is not satire. This is not somebody trying to write the dumbest thing ever in terms of restoring trust in news. Okay, this

is this is real. Those confirmed to participate so far include Mecckelly, CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO, Mark Thompson, NBC Universal Newsgroup Chairman, Sesar Conde. Fox News is Brettbear and and he guesses it's worse than you think. It's really worse than you think. Worse than Megan Kelly, worse than Mark Thompson, who many people at CNN do not believe actually exist, They've never seen him. Worse than Megan Kelly, worse than Mark Thompson, worse than, saysar Conde, worse than

Brett Bhar. The last person participating in the Innovating to Restore Trust in News national Summit, Joe Kahn, Executive editor of The New York Times. Does he have to bring somebody with him to offer a counterpoint to each of his statements? Others participating will come from the worlds of news, entertainment, technology and new media. Probably should add somebody from the

waterboarding division of the new administration. Megan Kelly, Mark Thompson, says our Conte Brett Behar, Joe Kahn on restoring trust in news, And you didn't invite Joe and Mika, Oh my god? Are we f't go ahead on countdown the Terrible Trade plus Hockey's Original Six. The term came up again over the weekend. The original six. They're not original

and there aren't six of them. How this erroneous nonsense has become the number one marketing device in the National Hockey League, and how it is factually completely wrong and has been now for eighty three years. Coming up next in Sports First, Believe It or Not? There's still more new idiots to talk about. The daily roundup of the miss Grants, morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who co constitute two Day's other worst persons in the world, the

bronze worse Chuck Todd. Friday, Chuck announced he's leaving NBC News for once. I'm not going to focus here on how Chuck once made up a quote and attributed it to AOC. She said concentration camps, he said, she said Nazi death camps. He still doesn't think he did anything wrong, even though she never said Nazi, she didn't say death and concentration camps began forty years before the Nazis used them.

They began in the Boer War in the nineteenth century. Also, I'm not going to zoom in on Chuck saying more recently that the Trump nominee confirmation hearings could just save cable news in the short term, because obviously that's what Chuck thinks the point of these confirmation hearings are. I'm

not going to mention any of that. I'm just going to point out that about three weeks ago, each media reporter and each political newsletter, including some done by high school students reported that Chuck Todd was leaving NBC News. Chuck reported it on Friday, Chuck was scooped on his own firing, runner up worser, former chief CNN saboteur Chris Licked. That's old timer's day here on worse persons Chris lickt

Chuck Todd. One of the media guys who scooped Chuck Todd on his own firing was Oliver Darcy of Status about my old MSNBC buddy lickt Darcy writes quote. When wildfires tore through the Los Angeles area earlier this month, Chris Lick found himself in the city, eager to lend the hand for or against the wildfires. Licked. According to a tipster, the former CNN boss reached out to knbct TV chief Todd Muktari to see if the local station

needed any support with its coverage. As circumstances would have it, Muktari did said he could use an extra field producer. Licked, I'm told, volunteered his time to assist taking on field producing duties for KNBC, the station where he launched his career years ago. I would argue about the use of the word career relative to Chris licked Krene is probably closer. Darcy ads licked volunteered. His time volunteered implies he did this for free, which is highly unlikely even under the

circumstances in a union shop like NBCLA. But he certainly did work for the minimum, meaning Chris Lickt has finally found a job and especially a salary commensurate with his skills bought our winner. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, who makes Kaylee mcananey and Sarah Huckabee and Sean Spicer look like they aren't morons. Levitt is not only stupid, but she has swallowed all the kool aid and whatever else was

on the food table with the White House. Listen to this exchange with Peter Doucey of Fox, another rocket scientist, back when they were still trying to sell the Potomac disaster as the fault of DEI instead of Pete. Hegsat's DoD was the air traffic controller in the DCA tower on Wednesday night, hired or not fired at some point because of his or her race.

helicopter and others. We will confirm those. I don't want to confirm names from this podium today, We're not in a position to do that, but I will say the President has still rightfully pointed out that there has been problems with the aviation industry over the past several years, and this started under Barack Obama in twenty fourteen.

pilot was commissioned. Oh right, Trumps. The people talking, DEEI waited, if you will, hiring practices unfair to white dudes, hiring practices in that little clip there, those people are Peter Doocey, whose dad just coincidentally has worked at Fox News since it was created, born courtesy of Satan and Roger Ayles, Peter Deucey, NEPO baby, and Caroline Levitt, who literally got into college on a softball scholarship. The press secretary is

there to catch softballs from the NEPO babies only in America. Man, while we are here on this topic, I mentioned last week the just last summer, Caroline Levitt not revealed as a Trump spokesperson that she thinks the word damming is pronounced dammining, but that she at least once on the air live on CNN, revealed she thought the Nazi monster's name was Kilter. There was blowback to that. People who believed everything else that I've said all this time believe

that was impossible. Nobody is that stupid. Nobody has gone through life only reading a name and getting it wrong all their lives, no matter if they're ten years old, reading the name Hitler wrong and never being corrected on it. It's not possible. Never Mind, somebody rose to the position of I don't know, street sweeper outside the White House, never mind Press secretary to the President of the United States.

But then again, we are living in a real time, real life version of idiocracy in a time when Bobby Kennedy Junior is not escorted out of the Senate and directly into a straight jacket and some pants, it is not only possible, it turns out it's likely that this is what happens at the risk of pissing off CNN like they care anymore. On June twenty fourth, last year, on CNN This Morning with Casey Hunt, here's the clip Levitt got Hitler's name wrong. It is late in this clip.

There's a lot of crosstalk at the end, but you can play it again if you don't hear it the first time. Levitt is bashing Jake Tapper, Casey Hunt is defending Jake Tapper, and then boom goes the Hilter. Courtesy and copyright CNN. And my justification is this is really news that a lot of people didn't notice at the time, courtesy CNN. And just one more time, this is courtesy CNN.

by Trump. Doncic turns twenty six at the end of this month, and in the worst of his six full seasons in the league thus far, he finished only eighth in the balloting for most Valuable Player. He was third last year. He's been a first team All Star each of the last five seasons. Dallas sent La Doncic and well other guys for the Lakers first round draft choice

in twenty twenty nine. Max Christy, who has scored eight hundred and two points over the entire arc of his career, that is, and Anthony Davis, a thirty two year old, much beligned, much injured player whose name you may recognize from such headlines as Anthony Davis demands New Orleans trades him. Anthony Davis will not return to Kentucky. Anthony Davis will miss several games with another foot injury. Anthony Davis will

not play tonight due to load maintenance. Anthony Davis demands Lakers trade him, and of course somebody needs to talk to Anthony Davis about the brows. Congratulations to my friend and one time date literally Lakers only earner Jeanie buss on getting rid of this guy in exchange for one of the greatest players in modern basketball history. It would

be like trading me for Babe Ruth. The trade is so bad that several NBA insider reporters who reported it on social media were contacted by fans and other reporters and their their editors and employers to ask if their computers had been hacked.

and gave most of it to Trump. Because well, now they've gone and traded Luka Doncic because et TD state line, Vancouver, British Columbia. While we're talking trades, please give a thought today for my pal John Shorthouse, who does the Vancouver Cannots hockey games on television and is very possibly the best play by play man in sports, despite being a total goofball. But even he will be challenged by the

new state of things in Vancouver. Friday night, the Canucks solved a long standing problem by dumping center J. T. Miller, a player of whom you could quote the Monty Python line, it's people like you what causes unrest. He had been unresting his own teammate, Elias Petterson. Miller was finally traded to the New York Rangers, the third time in less than seven years he has been traded, and how he treated his teammates was part of the trade. Anyway, Elias

Petterson continues in Vancouver, which means Shorthouse's problem continues. The Canucks recently promoted a defenseman from the Miners named Elias Petterson. He spells his name exactly the same way Elias Petterson does, but he pronounces it differently. Near as I can tell, this is the first time any sports team has had this. Two guys Elias Petterson and Elias Petterson with exactly the

same name, but they pronounce it differently. But after the Canucks traded Miller, they made another deal for a deaf veteran defenseman named Marcus Petterson. So it's Elias, Elias and Marcus Petterson on the same team, conceivably on the ice at the same time. Good Luck Shorty, on the other hand. In September, the Canucks replaced their rinkside in game reporter. The new person in the job is named Olivia McDonald. The previous reporter was named Kate Peterson and dateline headquarters

of the New York Americans fan Club. I don't do a lot of hockey, but while we're here, you may enjoy this. At least you'll understand why marketing is not what it could be. In the NHL, the traded J. T. Millers first came back with the New York Rangers was against the Boston Bruins Saturday afternoon. They will play again Wednesday.

The Bruins and the Rangers were in the National Hockey League between nineteen forty two and nineteen sixty, the quarter century when the whole league had only six teams and none of them moved and none of them changed names, and it was just the six of them. And then they started doing the expansion thing. Starting in the early seventies, hockey people began to refer to those half dozen clubs in that twenty five year span erroneously as the original six.

You will hear this now every time Boston plays the Rangers, or Montreal plays Detroit, or Toronto plays Chicago, or any other mix of these six teams. Announcers say it, coaches say it, players say it, The commissioner of the league says it, and they are all wrong. For some of us fans, the day will come when we will have heard this ridiculously inaccurate phrase original fixth one time too many, and we will either barricade ourselves somewhere, or we will

take hostages. The National Hockey League officially originated in nineteen seventeen, although it was the direct successor to the National Hockey Association, which started in nineteen oh nine. Each of those leagues had in their first season their original season four original teams. Each of them, the NHL and the NHL had an original four. The number of the teams in the NHL

has varied. It's gone from four to six in nineteen twenty four, to seven in nineteen twenty five, to ten in nineteen twenty six, and then the Depression really took its toll. The Ottawa Senators suspended operations and the Pittsburgh Pirates went belly up, then moved to Philadelphia, then folded, so in nineteen thirty one, the NHL was back down to eight teams. Ottawa tried again, resumed operations in nineteen thirty two, so they were back up to nine teams.

That didn't work, so Ottawa moved to Saint Louis in nineteen thirty four, and that really didn't work, so Saint Louis folded and in nineteen thirty five it was back to eight teams again. By nineteen thirty eight, things were so bad in the city of Montreal that the fabled Montreal Canadians were going to move to Cleveland. Instead, they bought out the other Montreal team, the Canadians bought the

Montreal Maroons. The Montreal Maroons, who had won the Stanley Cup just three years earlier, folded went out of business, So we're down to seven teams nineteen thirty eight, when the war came, the original team in New York that preceded the Rangers, the New York Americans, suspended operations when the war ended. They never came back, and that's why there were six NHL teams. There's nothing original about the

original six. They were just the ones that didn't go bankrupt. Moreover, of the actual original four teams from the NHL of nineteen seventeen, only the Montreal Canadians are still in the league. The Toronto team of nineteen seventeen Sorda. They're sorta the Maple Leafs. The original business went bankrupt, new owners took over, changed the name of the team. Was a very shady deal. But even if you consider the Toronto Maple Leafs as original, THENA does not have an original six. It has an

original two. If the Canadians are playing the Maple Leafs and you want to say it's an original two matchup, go right ahead. I have no complaint with that. The rest of it is bullshit. The Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers. Nominally, the other four of the original six are like every other one of the thirty teams that are not Montreal or Toronto. They are expansion franchises. There is no original six. Why do

I care about this? Why have I assumed that you would care about this for you nine and a half minutes of your day. I am the son of a woman who attended National Hockey League games at Madison Square Garden in New York, games of the NHL team called the New York Americans. She and particularly her uncle Willie were New York Americans. Fans own a replica New York

Americans jacket. If there is an original six teams nineteen forty two to nineteen sixty seven, what were the New York Americans who played in nineteen forty one forty two? What are they? Chopped? Liver? More importantly, as I said, the NHL Montreal Maroons won the Stanley Cup in nineteen

thirty five, then disappeared in nineteen thirty eight. Does that Stanley Cup win not count if the Montreal Maroons are not original or part of some sort of legacy that you call the Original six who won the Stanley Cup in nineteen thirty five. In fact, the Maroons won two Stanley Cups, and the NHL Ottawa Senators the original ones they won four Stanley Cups. If there is an NHL Original six, what about those six Stanley Cup Championship NHL

winning teams that don't exist anymore. And lastly, just to tie the whole thing together once again, just to make this clear, the Stanley Cup has never been won by a team with anybody on it who was named Peterson. I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening, and for the record, I may or may not be an Original six, but I was once traded. At least I was sold by NBC News to Fox

Sports late in nineteen ninety eight for a flat one dollars. Seriously, not even draft choices, not even Anthony Davis, just cash. Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanel. The musical directors have countdown Arrange produced and performed most of our music. Mister Chanelle handled orchestration and keyboards, Mister Ray was on the guitars, bass and drums, and it was produced by Tko Brothers. Our set here Glen Fifthy. Musical comments are by the

best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Faust. The sports music is the Olberman theme from ESPN two, written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Other music arranged and performed by No Horns Aloud. Did I mention that clip of Caroline Levitt was from CNN? My announswer today was my friend Dennis Leary. Everything else was, as ever my fault. That's countdown for today, just four and forty eight days until the scheduled end of his lame duck, lame brained term.

Unless Musk removes him sooner. The next scheduled countdown is Thursday. As always, boltons, as the news warrants remember in peach trumpet will not work now. It will, however, win the Democrats the mid terms until next time. I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Ladell Filter Countdown with Keith Olreman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.