Tough Todd, Whinging Olbermann | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

MSNBC’s Chuck Todd threw down on Thursday in a heated exchange with Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who had echoed former President Donald Trump’s call for Vladimir Putin to release dirt on Hunter Biden.

rom the beginning of the interview, Todd pressed Cramer about why he would “trust propaganda” from the Russian dictator. The senator initially said his comment had been “more sarcastic than it was anything” and agreed that Putin is a war criminal.

Todd didn’t let up, asking Cramer whether it was really appropriate for Trump to ask Putin for this favor, describing Trump’s actions as “unpatriotic” and “a horrendous thing to do,” to “ask literally the enemy of the free world right now for propaganda for a political opponent.”

Cramer attempted some spin, saying the media would be covering the war in Ukraine differently if the story had been about Donald Trump Jr. or Eric Trump, but Todd admonished him not to “what about” the situation.

“Senator, that is the laziest attack,” said Todd. “It’s not about the media.”

“Is it right for the former president of the United States to ask an enemy of the free world to do this?” he asked.

Cramer again brought up media coverage of Trump, and Todd let him answer before retorting that Trump was the leader of the GOP, and asking, “Are you comfortable with the leader of your party playing footsie with Vladimir Putin?”

It was a tough but fair interview. Watch here.

CBS News is under fire for hiring Mick Mulvaney, the former congressman and Trump administration official, as a contributor, to “contribute political analysis across the Network’s broadcasts and platforms.”

The hire quickly drew outrage from journalists and pundits. Late Show host Stephen Colbert was among those outraged by the hire. In a sharp-tongued rant on Thursday night’s episode, he took aim at his own network for hiring “this craven toady to a tyrant.” Colbert made very clear he was intentionally criticizing the company for besmirching the reputation of their own “venerable news division” by bringing on Mulvaney.

That wasn’t enough to satisfy Keith Olbermann, who whined on Twitter that instead of “reworking a series of his ancient tedious jokes,” Colbert should have threatened to quit if CBS didn’t fire Mulvaney.

Olbermann has been very publicly fired from multiple media outlets, including ESPN and MSNBC (followed up by some pretty hilarious rejections), but he loves to issue sanctimonious lectures from his balcony.

Colbert, on the other hand, has enjoyed a far more stable career. He joined The Daily Show in its second season in 1997, left in 2005 to launch his spinoff The Colbert Report, where he stayed until 2014, when he was brought on CBS’s The Late Show. He undoubtedly feels a sense of responsibility for the numerous writers and staff employed by his show.

Colbert didn’t pull any punches in his critique of CBS. He didn’t need to threaten to take his ball and go home. Olbermann’s attack was more balcony whinging than prudent counsel.