Leftist table-pounder Keith Olbermann – now with GQ (“Gentlemen’s Quarterly”?) -- has started a publicity tour for his new book Trump Is F*cking Crazy (ThIs Is Not a Joke). In an interview with a supportive Marisa Guthrie at The Hollywood Reporter, Olbermann fought back against the notion that liberal activism and Colin Kaepernick were ruining the NFL ratings.
It’s a “logical fallacy,” he insisted. "Never mind that the NFL ratings have been declining at a steady rate for 10 years. It is all because of Colin Kaepernick. Nobody has time to think anymore, therefore the logical fallacy applies to everything; if B follows A, A caused B. And every A and every B is politics."
Olbermann also denied ESPN is losing viewers because of its liberal bias. (He didn’t deny the bias, just the viewer loss.)
The right has been pushing this narrative that ESPN is losing subscribers because the network is too liberal and PC.
I believe they have actually taken steps in the last couple of years that have slowed down the loss. ESPN has been doing better than it was, and its handling of these controversies has been exceptional. You can't get it all right, but I think they've been doing a good job in getting most of it right.
What do you think of ESPN's suspension of Jemele Hill for violating its social media policy?
My political sensibilities are totally in line with hers. As somebody who has been suspended from ESPN for tweeting, I would say, "If you'd like to stay sane and you'd like to be able to make your points and you'd like to be able to present your conscience in public, my best advice is to reconfigure your Twitter app so that you can't read the replies or tweets sent at you."
Twitter critics can be rough, but that can also sound like "I don't engage with anyone who disagrees with me." Which certainly matched Olbermann's cable-news formula, as well as his current YouTube rants.
Guthrie wrote “Today, the 58-year-old, like many liberals, often feels like he's in an alternate universe — or wishes he were.” Olbermann told her "It's exactly that feeling you get in a dream where there's a nuclear war or you're back in the fourth grade."
Olbermann denied he watches cable news now, because they’re not er, idealistic enough for his tastes.
Do you still watch cable news?
Turning on CNN and MSNBC is of no value to me. Number one, I know all the tricks. Number two, I know all the conflicts. Number three, I know all the self-interest. The structures of cable news and other networks are still: "How do we leverage this? How do we position ourselves correctly?" Rather than: "The country is on fire — what do we do?"
And in case you think being honored by Olbermann as a "truth" teller is a positive thing rather than a negative, he makes a list of his favorite Trump-bashers:
Who do you think is doing good work on the beat?
The people who are doing the Hall of Fame work are the people in the field: [CNN’s] Jim Acosta, Natasha Bertrand [from Business Insider], [NBC News reporter] Carol Lee, [The Washington Post’s] Abby Phillip, Daniel Dale from the Toronto Star. Paul Wood at the BBC has only broadcast maybe eight pieces about the Trump campaign and Russia and each one has been a barrel full of poison darts. His work has been outstanding. Major Garrett, who is a friend of mine, is doing great work for CBS News on this story. The number of times that they managed to essentially sneak the truth past mechanisms that say the truth might be dangerous to our bottom line, they are all to be commended.
Try not to laugh at the idea that CBS, CNN and NBC are networks you have to "sneak the truth" that Trump is dangerously awful past the censors.
