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Epic: Lawrence O’Donnell Hammers NBC; Demands They Reveal Trump’s Future Plans

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We’ve been closely following MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell‘s coverage of Donald Trump and the would-be Republican candidate (or not, if you’re inclined to agree with O’Donnell’s assessment of the situation) and we were keen on seeing what he’d have to say about Trump tonight in the wake of the White House’s presentation of Barack Obama‘s birth certificate. And O’Donnell did not disappoint.

Instead of going after Trump – a man to which he has devoted time week after week on his show, and one whom he accuses of doing or saying anything in his ongoing quest to quence his insatiable thirst for media attention – O’Donnell set his sights squarely on Trump’s employers at NBC, accusing the network of having effectively “created a monster.” O’Donnell pointed specifically to an anonymous NBC exec who told The New York Times that this is all “just Donald being Donald” (It’s a quote we at Mediaite also found… interesting, to say the least.)

O’Donnell has previously taken the network to task for, essentially, allowing Trump to bring the “birther” issue to the foreground of current political and cultural discussion when they know (again, if you happen to agree with O’Donnell) or at least have a sense that the man is not going to run for office. Earlier this month, he went so far as to call Trump NBC’s “greatest individual embarrassment.” In New Hampshire, Trump said he could not make an official announcement regarding hsi campaign plans until his NBC show, The Apprentice, finishes its season. O’Donnell pointed out that this is simply untrue – Trump can announce, today, whether or not he plans to run without forcing his network to have to supply equal airtime to other candidates. The issue is not the announcement, it’s whether Trump will file the legal documents necessary to become an actual, legal candidate – and only then would equal time claims come into play. Therefore, explained O’Donnell, Trump is hiding behind NBC, evidently with the network’s full cooperation.

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  • Liberal Tormentor

    Man, The Donald has really gotten under Larry’s skin.

  • Upper Plateau

    The network created a monster? So I guess Ed of the Ed Show on MSNBC gets a pass. He’s kind of cookie. He doesn’t fit the characture that the left likes to paint themselves as. I mean he really isn’t the picture of liberal elitist intellectualism. O’Donald tries so hard to maintain his relevance so he can keep his phony baloney job. Yawn…………………….

  • Barack Must Go

    I guess we now know Larry’s swell show wasn’t picked up for second season. Man their dropping like flies off Obama’s face and even one or two out of his mouth over there at ObamaVision TV.

  • ChiliPeppersFan

    after trump stepped in that birther crap, no matter how hard he tries, he can’t scrape all of it off. even if he does the smell is gonna follow him especially if he runs. he needs to stay with reality tv like that other attention whore.

  • cmdrgmh

    Barack Must Go said:
    I guess we now know Larry’s swell show wasn’t picked up for second season. Man their dropping like flies off Obama’s face and even one or two out of his mouth over there at ObamaVision TV.

    Lawrence has a 4 year contract. He’s not going anywhere.

  • TfT

    I laughed pretty heartily when I read this. It was LOD himself who had to be removed from live air after throwing a hissy fit on air several years ago.

    For him to point fingers at NBC, who still retains David Gregory (biggest birther out there) and Chuck Todd (biggest Obama ass -kisser out there) and Biran Williams (a “news” anchor who BOWS to the President) entertainment is laughtastic.

    Thanks for all the laughs mediaite, LOD claiming someone else is an embarrassment

    bwahahahahaha

  • Upper Plateau

    cmdrgmh said:
    Lawrence has a 4 year contract. He’s not going anywhere.

    Sadly.

  • Dem4Ever

    “Larry O demands…” How funny is that? Like NBC is going to give a gnat the time of day. It’s official…LO is fully delusional.

  • Barack Must Go

    cmdrgmh said:
    Lawrence has a 4 year contract. He’s not going anywhere.

    That’s what YOU and HE thinks. At this rate he’ll be gone before Memorial Day. Which falls on Monday, May 11, 2011.

  • Gasket

    Good shit Lawrence. Call out the racist birthers for the miserable miscreants they are.

  • Patrick

    Did the Donald kick Larry’s dog or something? O’Donnell’s positively Olbermann-esque when it comes to Trump.

  • TfT

    Hmmmmmm

    Who has the numbers?

    How many viewers does Trump show get?
    How many viewers does LODs show get?

    I’m gonna guess that Trump wins that battle.

  • Skippy

    TfT said:
    Hmmmmmm

    Who has the numbers?

    How many viewers does Trump show get?
    How many viewers does LODs show get?

    I’m gonna guess that Trump wins that battle.

    You are correct. If the battle was for the title of biggest attention whore, the Donald wins by a mile.

  • WildMan

    Lawrence ios a little shrimp of a guy who feels it necessary to shoot off his big mouth (which is actually bigger than his body) at every chance he gets. I love it when he tries his crap when he is on Morning Joe and ol’ Joe slams him to the ground and keeps him there. Ditto with the fat redhead, Eddie Schultz as well as Chrissy Tingles. PMSnbc is a zoo of idiotic juveniles.There is absolutely no news to be had on that lousy cable network.

  • WildMan

    ics s/b is

  • daddyo

    This guy—Odonnell—is talking about a Trump hate campaign on Obama…..is he crazy? What has he and his network done to GWB, Sarah Palin, et.al. For the last how many years? Is this not hypocritical?

  • http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

    While I applaud his sentiment, though I’d put more of the onerous on Trump than NBC, O’Donnell appears to be only technically correct regarding the equal opportunities regulations.

    In a comment to one of Frances’ weekend posts, I linked to the law and some analysis.

    A reading of the law makes it clear that entertainment programming could prompt a equal time request, but as O’Donnell says, no one has asked for equal time for an opponent’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live”. Clearly they could’ve done it and perhaps making a formal request could be seen as whining, but the show would obviously welcome any opposing candidates and sometimes do, with or without a request.

    Also as the “Broadcast Law Blog’s” analysis makes clear, there’s not an upcoming national election. Instead, if Trump were to run in the primaries, he’d be running in something like 57 little elections and FCC rules have determined that someone legally qualifying for the primaries (or caucuses) in 10 states would be subject to national equal opportunities rules and only another candidate meeting the same criteria would be able to make an equal time request, plus it’d have to be filed within seven days.

    Obviously Larry’s right and Trump simply saying that he’s running doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, but as a general rule and as we’ve seen recently with FNC, the networks can and do apply their own rules to avoid any question of impropriety. Though as Mr. O’Donnell concludes, there’s nothing to force NBC to do anything other than strict adherence to the law and as the Broadcast Law Blog’s linked analysis states, Trump nor any of his Republican opponents are likely to be legally qualified in the next few weeks.

  • ohwell

    TfT said:
    Hmmmmmm

    Who has the numbers?

    How many viewers does Trump show get?
    How many viewers does LODs show get?

    I’m gonna guess that Trump wins that battle.

    How many wives does Trump have? 1, and 2 (or 3?) ex wives
    How many husbands do you have? Zero. The one you had dropped dead.

    Looks like Trump wins again! Yay!

  • ChrisNH

    There’s nothing more beautiful than getting under the skin of leftist media hacks. Go ahead, O’Donel…get mental; get rabid. It’s proof that things aren’t going your way, and that’s a GREAT thing.

  • murf

    Great picture….. CHUCKIE !!!!

  • OxyCon

    So, you have a socialist on a far-left extremist network going after a capitalist by attacking his employers.

  • KirbbDogg2000

    just to ask. when was Lawrence removed from tv? And is there any footage of on this site?

  • ckw

    Frankly, I doubt Larry, the vicious toy poodle, is in any position to demand anything of his employer. He had better be hoping they will permit him to hang around MSNBC for a while longer, given his in-the-toilet ratings.

  • skyfet

    Someone is on fire tonight.

  • Barack Must Go

    KirbbDogg2000 said:
    just to ask. when was Lawrence removed from tv? And is there any footage of on this site?

    He was thrown off the set of morning Joe for viciously attacking a guest.

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/02/12/odonnell-goes-nuts-morning-joe-scarborough-cuts-him

  • Alice67

    ckw said:
    Frankly, I doubt Larry, the vicious toy poodle, is in any position to demand anything of his employer. He had better be hoping they will permit him to hang around MSNBC for a while longer, given his in-the-toilet ratings.

    His ratings are pretty good actually. The thing about MSNBC is that they may have 1/2 the ratings of Fox but they generally have higher educated upper class viewers. One way to tell is car ads. Not a truck or compact car among them. They’re all Mercedes Benz, Audi, Lexus and Cadillac type ads. The people that watch MSNBC have bucks.

  • Barack Must Go

    Alice67 said:
    His ratings are pretty good actually. The thing about MSNBC is that they may have 1/2 the ratings of Fox but they generally have higher educated upper class viewers. One way to tell is car ads. Not a truck or compact car among them. They’re all Mercedes Benz, Audi, Lexus and Cadillac type ads. The people that watch MSNBC have bucks.

    So what you are trying to tell us here is that YOU are definitely NOT an SNBC viewer. Sort of a convoluted, round about way of saying so if you ask me.

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  • Barack Must Go

    skyfet said:
    Someone is on fire tonight.

    Sorry to hear your hemorrhoids are flaring up again. Did you remember to bring your inflatable donut?

  • Barack Must Go

    Until today I had no idea that Lawrence O’Donnell, crazy Larry, was / is the darling of the liberal zealot bomb thrower crowd.

    I’m guessing that half of those hipsters banging on the 35 pound ” Tidy Cat ” litter pails, stinking up the State house in Wisconsin during that 3 week sit in have a full size bust of old crazy Lar tatooed on their chest / breast he’s that damned important to their cause. Who woulda thunk?

  • http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

    Where is anyone from the GOP to take on Obama the way Trump took him on?

    Not with this birth thing, but on his dysfunctional policies and power-grab.

    We’re losing Afghanistan and Pakistan; he’s got no clue on our new non-war in Libya; gas prices have more than doubled in two years; he’s nearly bankrupted the country with 4 trillion in “stimulus” and bail-outs, and little results; he’s rammed through a debacle of hidden Central Government controls over our freedom; he villifies his opponenets, and pits race and class groups against each other…

    This is what happens when the Mainstream Media SELLS-OUT, and becomes an advocate for Democratic Progressives.

  • THE REAL ROYAL KING

    I have to say Larry lost me a bit on this. It, of course, took some courage to take on the parent network, even if it is merely the entertainment division, but I’m not sure there is much “there there”. American television is dedicated to filling the homes of the vacuous with trash like “DWTS” and the “Apprentice” and all manner of reality television garbage. Trump contributes a great deal of garbage to the effort.

  • THE REAL ROYAL KING

    Liberal Tormentor said:
    Man, The Donald has really gotten under Larry’s skin.

    Liars, Frauds, Charlatans and Racists have long done that to Larry in his political and journalism career.

  • ChrisNH

    Thank you, Mediaite, for making sure every photograph of Lary odonel has him looking like a rabies-filled animal.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chuck-Varrick/1170421091 Chuck Varrick

    O’Donnell is an unhinged a hole. This guy is symbolic of today’s liberalism. He’s crazy. It’s one thing to get on TV and want to debate with opposing views, it’s another to treat guests of any political persuasion that way. I can’t believe Comcast hasn’t swept house yet. Once people start canceling their cable subscription like I did, maybe then they’ll listen up. How anyone can have the audacity to talk about FOX being cheerleaders for Republicans and USElessNBC not being the same for Dems is so wrought with irony. Where is the lamestream media with respect to IMAM obama? The muslim in chief? The Imam is now blaming the current state of affairs in this country on those who distracted him from doing his important job. We took up his valuable time with all the birther nonsense. Who cares where he was born, he’s a terrible President who doesn’t respect his country. Has he come out with any condolences for those 9 soldiers murdered in Afghanistan the other day, yet? NO…he was too busy visiting with that other half-wit they call oprah. As for this birth certificate nonsense, one just doesn’t work that hard, and invest that degree of resources to hide basic personal/public documents unless there is something than one doesn’t want known. As such, the validity of this recent caper is suspect. Give him four more years I say and watch Republicans take back control of the US Senate, at least for the next 4 years. Checkmate him!!!

  • Probably NOT wrong

    THE REAL ROYAL KING said:
    Liars, Frauds, Charlatans and Racists have long done that to Larry in his political and journalism career.

    Awwww!
    \

  • Probably NOT wrong

    I have never been a fan of the silly ass Reality TV Shows and I have never been
    a Fan of Trump. And NO, he is NOT going to run for President! Too much baggage
    and he will NEVER let his Personal Financial Statement become public!
    But one damn thing you can’t deny! He made the Prez bring that BC out
    much earlier than he had planned! President Obama caved like a $2.oo Suitcase.
    Much like he did on Gtmo and the Bush Tax Cuts, the Tribunals, help, help I can’t think of the others
    just now! So many, so little time!! lol

  • timzank

    It’s awfully hard to take a guy seriously on anything when he makes a million bucks a year, is chauffered everywhere in a limo, wears $3000 suits and $500 shoes, and eats in the finest places all while calling himself a “socialist” and a man of “the people”.

    Seriously, how do you liberals square that circle?

  • ElCapitanAmerica

    What I saw from O’Donell is what I wish more people in the media would do, not be afraid to criticize their employers if there’s a story that demands such scorn. And he is absolutely right here, NBC is somewhat responsible for this whole fiasco and they’re acting in an irresponsible way to get more ratings for one of their show.

  • timzank

    ElCapitanAmerica said:
    What I saw from O’Donell is what I wish more people in the media would do, not be afraid to criticize their employers if there’s a story that demands such scorn. And he is absolutely right here, NBC is somewhat responsible for this whole fiasco and they’re acting in an irresponsible way to get more ratings for one of their show.

    You illustrate exactly why liberals are fools, you are blaming NBC for the actions of Donald Trump. They don’t have a damn thing to do with his actions. It’s a mindset so prevalent, there is always somebody else to blame. Why can’t liberals just place the blame for things on the people responsible???

    If Larry doesn’t like Trump and what he’s doing or saying he should blame Trump and not NBC, or anybody else.

  • Pablo

    THE REAL ROYAL KING said:
    Liars, Frauds, Charlatans and Racists have long done that to Larry in his political and journalism career.

    Larry doesn’t have a journalism career.

  • Pablo

    cmdrgmh said:
    Lawrence has a 4 year contract. He’s not going anywhere.

    When does Olbermann’s contract expire?

  • Zandandido

    Alice67 said:
    His ratings are pretty good actually. The thing about MSNBC is that they may have 1/2 the ratings of Fox but they generally have higher educated upper class viewers. One way to tell is car ads. Not a truck or compact car among them. They’re all Mercedes Benz, Audi, Lexus and Cadillac type ads. The people that watch MSNBC have bucks.

    So they are… elitists? I thought the middle class was Numero Uno. Obviously, it doesn’t, if it did, then why are you basically saying “we have Haaaavard viewers” are better than “simpleton peoples”. Are you a spider? Because you are spinning this, like a spider spins her web. All I’m hearing is “wahhh, MSNBC doesn’t have higher viewers, waahhh”. Fox News destroys (figuratively) MSNBC, CNN, and HLN. His, along with all of MSNBC, ratings are horrible. Tell me when a show on MSNBC actually gets over 1 million total viewers a night. Because that is a rather rare moment.

  • writer

    Wow, Alice. While holding your nose in the air to say you watch MSNBC, be careful no bugs fly into it.

  • BatBoy

    “Epic: Lawrence O’Donnell Hammers NBC; Demands They Reveal Trump’s Future Plans”

    Very soon now, Comcast/NBCU will demand Larry to hit the road.

    Maybe Keefe can give him a segment on his new non-show!

  • lane

    O’Donnell and Shultz are the Jerry Springer of cable news. Just sad. NBC News under Russert was very strong, and this all just makes me sad…

  • Barack Must Go

    Just checking in to see if Lawrence started his hunger strike yet.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Arthur-Clough/1419363514 Arthur Clough

    LOD is still trying to do his best impression of Olbermann. Last night he almost accomplshed it. Maybe the NBC execs should tell him to move on!

  • jerrybobphil

    I demand NBC tells us who taking over for Michael Scott on the Office. Something far more important then the future of The Apprentice.

  • Joe Plesko

    Here’s a prime example of the Hate from the Left. He rates right up there with Ed Shultz (MSNBC’s resident hate monger).

    So much hate on one cable channel. If Comcast wants to make money they are going to have to attract more than leftist Liberals to their network. There are only so many of those hateful people to go around.

  • Gorgegirl

    It is time for NBC to tell this crazy, racist guy ‘YOU ARE FIRED DONALD TRUMP”. I would like to have a list of The Apprentice advertisers so I can write them and boycott their products.,

  • Joe Plesko

    Gorgegirl said:
    It is time for NBC to tell this crazy, racist guy ‘YOU ARE FIRED DONALD TRUMP”. I would like to have a list of The Apprentice advertisers so I can write them and boycott their products.,

    That’s just your style. Intimidate people. Here you go, the people you want to Boycott is NBC. Go for it!

  • Gorgegirl

    NORBIT Jr. said:
    Where is anyone from the GOP to take on Obama the way Trump took him on?

    Not with this birth thing, but on his dysfunctional policies and power-grab.

    We’re losing Afghanistan and Pakistan; he’s got no clue on our new non-war in Libya; gas prices have more than doubled in two years; he’s nearly bankrupted the country with 4 trillion in “stimulus” and bail-outs, and little results; he’s rammed through a debacle of hidden Central Government controls over our freedom; he villifies his opponenets, and pits race and class groups against each other…

    This is what happens when the Mainstream Media SELLS-OUT, and becomes an advocate for Democratic Progressives.

    First of all, this administration DIDN’T bailout the banks. That was the previous administration which left a $1.3 Trillion budget deficit for this administration to assume.

    Since our national debt DOUBLED under the Bush administration from $5.6 Trillion to $10.7 TRILLION – not to mention the $1.3 Trillion budget deficit, you are blaming the WRONG administration.\

    Secondly, this administration didn’t start the damn wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. BUSH CHOSE TO START THOSE WARS.

    In addition the GAS prices of 2008 were worse than they are now. Maybe your memory of $155 a barrell oil needs a bit of a reminder., Here it is: gasoline prices approaching $5 a gallon at the pumps April 2008.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_asyHfq_fA&NR=1

  • ElCapitanAmerica

    timzank said:
    You illustrate exactly why liberals are fools, you are blaming NBC for the actions of Donald Trump.

    First of all, you really think that my original point, that it is good to see a news anchor be able to criticize their employer and/or parent company is a “liberal point of view”? How do you know my political stances from such a thing?

    I also didn’t blame NBC for what Trump thinks, that’s nobody’s point of view. Trump is directly responsible for his own opinions, there’s no debate about that. However, NBC is cynically cashing in from this made up controversy for ratings of that awful show. They’re also acting irresponsibly as O’Donell says, for not announcing once and for all if they’re planning to employ Trump for another season. They’re milking this, but at the same time becoming complicit in this stupidity. That’s not taking the blame away from Trump, that’s a valid criticism, which BTW goes to the media for blowing this out of proportion (and I will note MANY conservative commentators saying the same thing, which I wonder if you’ll call them liberal too).

    They don’t have a damn thing to do with his actions. It’s a mindset so prevalent, there is always somebody else to blame. Why can’t liberals just place the blame for things on the people responsible???

    If Larry doesn’t like Trump and what he’s doing or saying he should blame Trump and not NBC, or anybody else.

    Once again, and I recommend you read it a couple of times if it is not clear, conservative commentators have blamed the media and I also agree with them that they have been complicit in this thing, even though the fault is ultimately Trump’s. Nobody is denying that.

    I hope this opinion is not too complicated for your cartoonish political understanding.

  • KirbbDogg2000

    @ Barack must go

    I’ve seen the morning joe story when it happen. Lawrence to my understanding walked off after the show ended. Because Joe cut him off. I don’t blame him The guy Joe was interviewing admited that Bush knew Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. The whole reson we went to war there was because off WMD were there. And there were some ties to Ben Linden and 9-11. When there wasn’t. When I asked that i thought there was someelse that happen. Also Lawrence went to countdown later that day. And Keith would not even call morning joe by name and called it MSNBC live.

  • Barack Must Go

    KirbbDogg2000 said:
    @ Barack must go

    I’ve seen the morning joe story when it happen. Lawrence to my understanding walked off after the show ended. Because Joe cut him off. I don’t blame him The guy Joe was interviewing admited that Bush knew Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. The whole reson we went to war there was because off WMD were there. And there were some ties to Ben Linden and 9-11. When there wasn’t. When I asked that i thought there was someelse that happen. Also Lawrence went to countdown later that day. And Keith would not even call morning joe by name and called it MSNBC live.

    You asked, so……

  • KirbbDogg2000

    I thought there was was footage of peolpe taking Lawrence off set by force. Now that would have been some good TV there. It also did show why Morning Joe sucks in that respect. He sould have let Larry go after him. And also that day he was filling in for Ed, I would have loved to have Joe try that with Ed or Chris at the time.

  • jrcmi

    Most of the conservative posters here take shots at O’Donell but say nothing about Trump’s obvious use of racist language.

    Could you imagine Rupert Moredreck’s resident keister-kissers, Shill O’Reilly and Sham Hannity, bitch-slapping him on-air? Could you?

  • jrcmi

    O’Donnell

  • Karen

    Thank goodness someone is calling out Trump and his racist network.

    While you implore NBC to reveal if Celebrity Apprentice will be renewed for next year, can you can also inquire about Chuck, Outsourced, and The Event? It seems to me the hundreds of cast and crew members are literally being tortured waiting to hear about their fate (many of whom are minorities I might add). I gotta think they have more to lose than people like Trump and his celebrity cronies that could probably easily find work elsewhere. If NBC has truly completed next season’s lineup they should be forced to inform these people NOW!

  • RepDr

    How come no one in the media has questioned Trump about The Trump Network, nor does he ever speak of it since the launch 2 years ago? He promised a plan of recovery for the country, The Trump Network was going to lead millions out of recession (for $500). His quote, “More millionaires will be created in 24 months than anytime in history”. That was 2 years ago! Now, thousands of people have lost thousands of dollars, many misrepped by false and deceptive advertising, and the leading recruiters and their downlines have all but disappeared. Let’s hear Trump dance around this one…will he call them all losers who couldn’t follow directions, or admit that the greed permeating management led them to poor judgment calls? Visit http://www.IMWithDonald.com for more info, especially if you were/are in TTN.

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