Keith Olbermann: Trump supporters 'must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society'
The longtime broadcaster did not say what they should be prosecuted for
October 09, 2020
Image source: Keith Olbermann YouTube video screenshot
Longtime sportscaster-turned-far-left-pundit-turned-sportscaster Keith Olbermann is a far-left pundit again, leaving ESPN for the fourth time in order to host a YouTube show dedicated to helping Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden defeat President Donald Trump in the general election.
But Olbermann told his audience on Thursday that the battle extends far beyond Election Day, and called for the president and his supporters to be "prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society."
What are the details?
Olbermann announced Tuesday that he would be leaving ESPN amicably in order to launch his new political show in an effort to impact the upcoming election.
During his second show that aired Thursday, Olbermann went on a tirade, declaring that "Trump can be, and must be, expunged. The hate he has triggered, Pandora's boxes he has opened, they will not be so easily destroyed."
"So, let us brace ourselves," he continued, saying, "The task is two-fold: the terrorist Trump must be defeated, must be destroyed, must be devoured at the ballot box, and then he, and his enablers, and his supporters, and his collaborators, and the Mike Lees and the William Barrs, and Sean Hannitys, and the Mike Pences, and the Rudy Gullianis and the Kyle Rittenhouses and the Amy Coney Barretts must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society while we try to rebuild it and to rebuild the world Trump has destroyed by turning it over to a virus."
Olbermann did not state what alleged crimes Trump and his supporters "must" be prosecuted for.
"Remember it, even as we dream for a return to reality and safety and the country for which our forefathers died, that the fight is not just to win the election, but to win it by enough to chase — at least for a moment — Trump and the maggots off the stage and then try to clean up what they left," Olbermann went on to say.
He added, "Remember it, even though to remember it, means remembering that the fight does not end on November 3rd, but in many ways, will only begin that day."
The Washington Post reported that during an interview Tuesday, Olbermann told the newspaper "that he had been watching cable news during the Trump era and concluded there was room, even a necessity, for a stronger anti-Trump voice — a claim that might leave viewers of MSNBC and CNN furrowing their brows."
Olbermann was quoted as saying, "As good as the hands-on reporting is, as good as they are at ferreting out and describing what's wrong, I see the cable and broadcast networks still hesitant to say, 'That's a lie' or, 'This is disloyal to the Constitution' or, 'This is an attempt to establish the preface to a dictatorship — or at least authoritarianism.'"
So, Olbermann believes he will be able to contribute more through his style to defeat Trump than left-leaning mainstream outlets.
"I think it's fair to say that conservatives in politics and media know a little bit better what to bring to a knife fight," he added. "Liberals — and I'm hearing it from Joe Biden — say, 'Well, there are Republicans we can work with,' and I'm like, 'I can't hear you; I'm getting the flamethrower ready.' I'm going to bring the flamethrower."