And that was just the first 30 seconds.
The MSNBC turned GQ host was just getting started. He went on to call out President Trump for collusion, saying, “The Trump gang publicly confirmed — confirmed! — that the Russians were warned in advance per the terms of a deconfliction understanding.”
“And what do you call a stunt in which the principle ally of the targeted nation knows in advance that it’s coming, but our own Congress and State Department do not?” he continued. “Might that be called collusion with the enemy?”
Olbermann grew heated like he rarely has as he called out every shred of Trumpian hypocrisy, from condemning Obama for even considering the same plan to abandoning the refugees fleeing the violence he claims to be so moved by.
The rant crescendoed as he spoke of critical healthcare funding that Trump has cut for Syrian women. “So don’t tell me he had some kind of change of heart because of the video of those dying kids because by the end of the year, more children may have died because of Donald Trump than because of Bashar al Assad,” Olbermann shouted.
He took a breath and calmed but only briefly as he began talking about the 79 Senators and TV analysts who praised the assault, “because every time this idiot Trump doesn’t crap his pants or pay one of his companies another million dollars of taxpayer money, apparently that makes him Abraham goddamn Lincoln.”
Even for a guy known for his furious rants, this was intense. Maybe that is because, unlike Trump, Olbermann seemed to actually be reacting to the gruesome picture of from Bashar al Assad’s chemical attack.
Maybe it’s also because Olbermann was on the scene in 2003. The week’s atrocities appeared to revive fresh memories as Olbermann left his audience with a chilling warning:
“…a stunt that accomplished nothing except to make the stupid people of this country fall for it — just like they fell for it in Iraq in 2003 and just like they’ll fall for it next time. Because the actual outcome of this Syrian stunt was that Trump has now learned that whenever he can convert actual international outrage and heartbreak into a publicity, photo-op stunt, he will get applause and support and prestige.”