OLBERMANN: For more, now, on this Newsmax GOP debate — the one that Donald Trump, for God sakes, is going to host — I'm joined by Tim Dickinson, national political correspondent for Rolling Stone. Tim, thanks for your time tonight.
TIM DICKINSON: Good to be with you.
OLBERMANN: All I've been reading, all day, is something like this. This is National Fritters Day, December 2nd. We always celebrate National Fritters Day with a practical joke. It's like April Fool's Day. It hasn’t happened. This is not a practical joke?
DICKINSON: It's hard to believe and it really defies satire. You have a — a billionaire, who makes money firing people on national television, getting to grill the GOP candidates about how much they're gonna cut his taxes and how much is gonna be left over for little Ivanka, once the Donald kicks it and the — the socialite becomes an heiress. So, this is, sort of, like the singularity of all that's going on with GOP policymaking right now. It's just — it's just too hard to understand, frankly.
OLBERMANN: But, let's say he was a — a brilliant man or, at least half as brilliant as he thinks he is or even — has some credibility on most of his major areas and didn't just stumble into a lot of cash and get saved from bankruptcy a couple of time. Let's say he — he had some legitimacy. Isn't it this — the persona a little difficult to be a — having done this once myself and having to bite my tongue throughout a Democratic debate, where I wanted to jump in and follow and the — and the procedure didn’t allow it or even interrupt, and the procedure didn't allow it — how does Donald Trump, who makes his living not listening to other people, moderate a debate in which he has to ask questions and then — and then give them a chance to answer?
DICKINSON: I have no idea. I think this is gonna be like — I think of the egos of all of the parties involved kind of like balloons the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and so I think we're going to be watching collisions of that all night. It's going to be must-see TV.
OLBERMANN: Yes, in a 40-mile-an-hour windstorm —
DICKINSON: Exactly.
OLBERMANN: Knocking over light poles and passersby. Is there any reaction from those other balloons? Any reaction from the candidates? Are they going to show for this? Is this — we know there's 50 of these debates left. Is December 27th a key one? Is it because of the date? Is it the Christmas debate? What are they saying?
DICKINSON: Well, I man, it's — it's right before the Iowa Caucuses, essentially, and so, this is going to be a last chance to communicate to voters. Jon Huntsman — to his credit, and to his electoral schedule, which doesn’t depend on Iowa — has said he's gonna sit this one out and — and get a big bowl of popcorn and watch Mitt and — and Newt suck up to the Donald, as — I think that was the exact quote.
OLBERMANN: "Hello, I'm Donald Trump and my guests tonight are Herman Cain and Tim Pawlenty." Bachmann, Perry, Romney — they've all had these meeting with Trump with a lot of cameras, publicity and orange hair there. And Trump, of course — when he was staging his own, sort of mock candidacy — he briefly was atop the polls. Have you been able to define what his appeal is to the GOP? Is it purely braggadocio and bravado? Is that — is that what they're looking for?
DICKINSON: You know, I think that he says something about, you know, he's the everyman's billionaire. He's the guy that — that Joe the Plumber thinks he might be some day, if his plumbing were real and then took off. You know, plus this — I mean, you know, the size of his ego and — and just the way that he speaks — it gets into this — you know, he's just very much of — of a piece with the rest of this crew.
OLBERMANN: I just don't — he inherited most of that money. I've got — I know one of his buildings very well and it's very well run and it's a nice staff and there's not too much gold on it and they're good people and it's not a bad product but, my goodness, he inherited most of his riches. He's not a — he's not a self-made, or a Republican kind of story.
DICKINSON: But — but he's the guy who gets out there and does motivational talks in front of crowds. I mean, he — he's the guy who was out there on TV and you watched him, you know, in your underwear, so he — he's the accessible billionaire, I think is kind of the — the way to understand it.
OLBERMANN: I wouldn’t watch him in his underwear. A — a very politically astute friend of mine heard of this today and responded, "We are living in an Onion story, I swear." In light of this — in light of the Cain thing — do you get that feeling about the whole GOP race, like we're just sitting here, waiting for the real candidate to show up and announce that the parody part of it is over?
DICKINSON: Well, you know, I half expect — at this event — they're gonna draw open the curtain and Jeb Bush is gonna come out and — and you know, take on the challengers. Or maybe, you know, Bob Dole will come out as a — a veteran of past seasons and — and will get all of the — get all of the TV reality show crew together, here but — I mean, this is just a joke and it — and it — and it builds on the joke of the Herman Cain campaign and his map of foreign policy and adversary regimes. I mean, just when you though it couldn’t get any weirder, the Donald comes in.
OLBERMANN: Harold Stassen's dead so he can't pop in at the last minute either. Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone. Just 25 days 'til Trump proves there's another thing on TV he can’t do well. Thank you, Tim. Have a good weekend.
DICKINSON: I appreciate it. Thanks, Keith.
