Olbermann quits politics: ‘this nightmare presidency of Donald John Trump will end prematurely’

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Nov 28, 2017
Kekith Olbermann (Screenshot from Olbermann’s Twitter feed)

Keith T. Olbermann, a political commentator for GQ and prominent critic of president Donald J. Trump, announced his intention Nov. 27, to retire from political commentary.

I’m retiring from political commentary in all venues. This is not to say a bed of roses and reconciliation awaits us. Post-Trump America will be relieved of his prodigious evil, but in it’s place it will have Trump as living martyr. That prodigious evil and rank hypocrisy, and the immorality of his supporters, perhaps a third of us, will not vanish with him, and I am not sure that the democracy has not been damaged too much to deal with their lawless, unprincipled rebellion, and I do not see this country’s politics truly healing in the next 30 or 40 years.

“I am confident now, even more so than I have been throughout this last year, that this nightmare presidency of Donald John Trump will end prematurely and will end soon, and I am thus also confident that this is the correct moment to end this series of commentaries,” said Olbermann in today’s episode of “The Resistance,”his GQ internet series. “No illness, no scandal, no firing – just, I’ve said what I have to say.”

Olbermann began the series Sept. 16, 2016.

“As I reported here as long ago as April 4, the most specifically qualified expert alive on the subject of prosecuting a president, my friend, the Nixon White House counsel John Dean, put it to me very simply,” he said.

“Mueller is not shooting down. Mueller does not make a deal with Flynn to get Paul Manafort. He does not make a deal with Flynn to get Jared Kushner. He does not make a deal with Flynn to get Trump Jr.,  Mueller makes a deal with Flynn to get Donald Trump,'” said Olbermann. Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III was appointed in May to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials.

The former ESPN host was referring to recent reports that retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn’s lawyers met with Mueller’s lawyers, sparking unconfirmed rumors of a plea deal.

Flynn, who was a national security advisor to the Trump campaign and for a time the president’s national security advisor, has not been charged with a crime.

Olbermann said Mueller really will get Trump on Russia, it will be ugly, and it will tear this country nearly apart, but it will be necessary.

Over the next eight minutes of video, Olbermann excitedly discussed seven potential ways in which Trump could be removed as president, mostly related to the Russia scandal, which has yet to yield any damning evidence against Trump.

The final reason that Olbermann cited was Trump’s past sexual conduct, alluding that there may be abused women from Trump’s past who could become inspired by recent accusations of big-name celebrities and politicians to come forward.

“It seems impossible to believe that some claimant somewhere does not have some tangible evidence against Trump, and that they won’t say ‘to hell with it’ and break one of those non-disclosure agreements, and Trump will suddenly be envying Harvey Weinstein,” he said.

Olbermann has not been shy about his ant-Trump bias, evidenced by his heavily trafficked Twitter feed:

Cursing out the president has been a common occurrence for Olbermann, and he often referred to the president as a Nazi as well as many other colorful names.

Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism, broadcasting for CNN, as well as local news radio and television stations.

From 2003 to 2011, Olbermann hosted a left-wing political commentary show, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” on MSNBC. The circumstances around his departure were dubious. He had been suspended from the network the previous November for donating money to three Democratic congressional candidates, and according to the Rolling Stone, rumors swirled that he had not left MSNBC on his own volition, but rather had been fired.

From 2013 to 2015, Olbermann hosted an afternoon show in ESPN2 called “Olbermann,” and hosted Major League Baseball’s postseason coverage on TBS.