IS MUSK BUYING MSNBC TO MAKE IT PRO-TRUMP? - 11.25.24 | Countdown with Keith Olbermann

IS MUSK BUYING MSNBC TO MAKE IT PRO-TRUMP? - 11.25.24 | Countdown with Keith Olbermann

SEASON 3 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Is Elon Musk going to buy MSNBC and turn it into pro-Trump propaganda channel?

And, if not Musk – could somebody else?

I may be asking the question backwards. Is there anybody to STOP someone, Musk or not, from buying MSNBC and turning it into pro-Trump propaganda? Well – who stopped Musk from doing that to Twitter? Who stopped Warner BROS Discovery from buying CNN and doing that incompletely but sufficiently enough to render CNN irrelevant in television news? We don’t know for certain that MSNBC is for sale. Companies like Comcast take assets like MSNBC – which by itself has made a profit of something around five or six billion dollars since I made it into “the liberal news channel” in 2006 – and spin them off into another separate company they also own, and throw in CNBC and Oxygen and The Golf Channel and USA Network and half a dozen other assets and do it so hastily they don’t even have a name for the new company and they’re just calling it “SpinCo” – companies like Comcast do that all the time and never sell the new separate company oh no I'm being informed they never do that.

Musk and Trump Junior have now had a "joking" exchange about it online but it underscores that this is exactly what Musk did to twitter and there's nobody and nothing to stop him from doing it here. This comes as The Wall Street Journal reports how corporations are seeing Musk as the new portal to Trump - and so is China. And as a purported old friend of his is insisting Musk has lost control of himself.

This did not begin with the Joe Scarborough Trump disaster last week (though his audience in the "advertiser demo" is down to 51,000 people). It didn't even start with Trump. It pre-dates even my arrival there in 1997. MSNBC and NBC News and NBC and NBC's corporate owners have been at loggerheads continuously since long before the first newscast in 1996. To understand what's happening now, you have to understand what's happened already.

B-BLOCK (31:35) SPECIAL COMMENT 2: This is not MSNBC's first existential crisis. The pre-Comcast corporate ownership at GE was ready to not merely sell the then-newly profitable network in June 2009, it was ready to shut it off and shut it down, just because the mother of the chairman of GE was a Fox fan and Bill O'Reilly was insulting her son. What happened then, and what happened with my departure in 2011, again forms a straight line with the sudden spin-off and the Musk "joke."

C-BLOCK (48:00) THE OTHER WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Philadelphia police department thinks a burned body may be "suspicious" (no; it happened naturally). Pete Hegseth once insisted it couldn't be rape if she was too drunk to refuse consent. And Nancy Mace and her chest are attacked by her former Communications Director.

It's all part of life's rich pageant.

Original Air Date: November 25, 2024

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01:44 A-Block
31:35 B-Block
48:00 C-Block

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[denrieburton]

I, too, stop watching morning Joe, immediately. 😢

[marilynmurray]

Thank you for all you do Keith. Including taking care of dogs in need. I hope Kit is recovering well. You take care of yourself too.

[lindastanley]

Keith, you’ve never lost it, never aged. Love this and will recommend on Bluesky.

[nyc]

Best part of the day. Thank you, Sir Olbermann!

[marjorie]

Oh my gosh, I've lived through two dictatorships, and they're using the same playbook. I don't live in the US, but I am certain my heart couldn't handle the destruction and the stress that will happen should this transfer of power go through. I send blessings to America, may God save democracy 🩵🕊🌍🕊

[davidjames]

*Quote: **_"Meanwhile Mika Brzezinski continues to do damage control, as in, she keeps doing more damage."_* - 👍😎😅😂🤣

[rhondahoskins]

Thank You, Keith Olbermann for those historical insights on NBC vs. MSNBC. I was very upset when your show ended on MSNBC, so I especially appreciate you explaining the truth of your departure. Looking forward to your insight over the next four years.

[williambird]

I am American, live in the USA and listen to you Keith. Glad there are foreign nationals and American ex pats listening and commenting.

[ebbowland]

If we lose the right to criticize our government then we have lost everything.

[RocRizzo]

Wasn't Scarborough a Republican when he first came to MSNBC?

[Encephalitisify]

It’s disgusting what has happened to our government. I’m seriously very mad about it.

[Sound]

Thank you, Keith, for you excellent work!!!! Greetings from a German fan👍

[gfear]

I haven't been on Twitter/X since 2018, and cut the cord from TV in 2020. Never have I been more proud to have made those decisions.

[aprotosis]

Too bad Keith can't buy MSNBC. It would be great to have such a powerful voice with actual journalistic integrity in charge of a major news organization.

[redring]

I miss YOU Keith Olbermann, , Your by far the Best, ,

[Oldleftiehere]

Keith, so glad Kit is doing well. My little schnauzer that had that same surgery lived a long, adventurous life. On another note, thanks for staying on the air for us.

[christopherhughes]

Thank you so much for what you do sir. You’re the voice of sanity in an insane world.

[typeviic]

From corporate media to Oligarch media.

[jameschristopherstarnessta]

Well if he buys it, I will never watch it again. Just like I don't have an X account.

[FairHaven-hs]

Wow, this is like having Keith on the couch, doobie in the ashtray, opening up about ALL the shit I've always wondered about Behind the Scenes at MSNBC. Such intrigue! Such bullshit! You, Keith Olbermann, were the ONLY reason I started watching MSNBC nearly 20 years ago. Thank you for your integrity.