TRUMP DIDN'T KNOW VINCE LOMBARDI. HE KNEW VINCE LOMBARDI JR! - 3.30.26
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
iHeartPodcasts
4.7 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
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Summary
SEASON 4 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have figured out what might be the weirdest most pointless delusion of Trump's second term: his claim "Vince Lombardi - I knew him."
Trump was just 21, in college, and living with his parents in Queens the day the most legendary figure in football in the '60s retired as coach of The Green Bay Packers. More over, the first time he claimed he knew him was a decade ago, filled with details of witnessing Lombardi grab players by the shirt and not getting beat up because he was a winner. Where? How? He never explained. Of course he didn't. He probably saw it on television.
So why does he believe he met Vince Lombardi?
Because he DID meet Vince Lombardi.
Only - not THAT Vince Lombardi.
He met Vince Lombardi, JUNIOR, son of the legendary coach. Vince Lombardi Jr. was an executive in the United States Football League while Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of that league. Lombardi Jr. recounts meeting Trump (Trump was a jerk) in Jeff Pearlman's perfect book "Football For A Buck."
By this standard, I ALSO KNEW VINCE LOMBARDI. The younger was a negotiator for the owners during the NFL Strike of 1982 that I covered for CNN. But in the 44 years since I met him I never conflated him with his father.
THIS IS NOT THE LEAD STORY, it's just maddening. The lead? Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be sending thousands of American troops into an ambush in Iran. Not that they care. The conservative publication “The Washington Post” reports Pentagon plans for thousands of Marines and other personnel conducting weeks of raids while Rubio insists it’s going so well, we’ll never need boots on the ground. But Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be wildly exaggerating how EFFECTIVELY America has degraded Iran’s military capacities AND wildly underrating how effective Iran has been destroying American equipment – especially aircraft.
The Pentagon said an AWACS – the giant command and control plane – was “damaged” while parked on an airfield in Saudi Arabia. Photos have leaked. The back half of the AWACs was blown off. Iran is successfully conducting a war designed to destroy our PLANES on the ground, and control or neutralize wherever American troops intend to land or be based.
AND THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL doesn't know it is against federal law to send troops (or other "armed men") to a polling station during an election. Five years in jail for sending them, Todd Blanche. Losing eligibility for all offices or honors, Donald Trump.
B-Block (36:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bill Maher wins The Shania Twain Prize For Humor. I think I have that right. Laura Loomer takes a terrible risk invoking the term "a slap in the face" given what she's done to her own face. And who's worse? Scott Jennings (now accused by three fellow guests of faking his anti-Trump hysteria) or Abby Phillip (who lets her name be used on the grotesque CNN show where Jennings allegedly lies)?
C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mean this question literally: Whatever happened to Rudy Giuliani? Not that I miss him, not that I'm worried. It's just - he's vanished, hasn't he?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of IHeart Radio. |
| 0:17.2 | Trump and Heg Seth and Rubio may be sending thousands of American troops into an ambush in Iran. |
| 0:24.8 | They may also be sending many of them, maybe most of them, to their deaths. |
| 0:30.2 | Not that they care. |
| 0:32.8 | Moreover, Trump and Hegeseth and Rubio may be lying, wildly exaggerating, how well America has degraded Iran's |
| 0:40.7 | military capabilities, while wildly underrating how effective Iran has been at destroying American |
| 0:47.4 | weaponry, especially aircraft. The last thing I am is a military strategist or analyst, never showed any aptitude for it, never |
| 0:57.6 | wanted to, but I am good at distilling the analysis of others into one big picture, and in the wake of |
| 1:04.5 | the conservative publication, The Washington Post, reporting that the Pentagon is preparing for |
| 1:09.6 | weeks of infantry and special operations |
| 1:12.6 | raids in Iran, while Rubio is insisting it's all going so well we would never need boots |
| 1:18.7 | on the ground, the recurrent word I see from the actual experts is ambush. One of the recurrent |
| 1:27.3 | words. The other recurrent word is asymmetrical. A third word is ambush. One of the recurrent words. The other recurrent word is asymmetrical. A third word is lying. |
| 1:33.0 | And the conclusion is, far from being dead, as Trump put it, Iran is conducting a war designed to |
| 1:40.1 | destroy our planes on the ground and control or neutralize wherever American troops intend to land |
| 1:47.4 | or be waiting for them when they arrive there. In short, Trump and Hegeseth and Rubio are losing this war |
| 1:53.8 | and may be about to lose a terrifyingly large number of American troops. Not that they care. The Iranians have destroyed an American |
| 2:04.6 | AWACs, one of the big command and control aircraft. They destroyed it on the ground in a base, |
| 2:12.1 | in the open in Saudi Arabia. The Pentagon lied about this. Flat out lied. They reported the AWACs had just been, |
| 2:20.0 | quote, damaged. Photos of the, quote, damaged then leaked out. The back half of the goddamn |
| 2:27.1 | plane is missing, blown off. What the Pentagon said would be a lie even if Sean Duffy were running the Pentagon. |
| 2:36.0 | That AWACS is gone as are multiple KC-135 refueling jets. |
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