Category: CNN

The Worst News Network on the Planet Has Covered Itself in Shame This Week

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For the past couple of days, I’ve been watching CNN (so you don’t have to) and — dear merciful God! — there are no words to describe how awful it is. On the other hand, the attempt to describe it gave me an excuse to beat that dead dog again with a 1,300-word opus:

Among the errors to which journalists are prone, none is so common as the delusion of instant expertise. Assign a reporter to do an article about theoretical physics, and by the time he files his story, he’ll be convinced he’s Stephen Hawking. You see this sort of phony expertise everywhere in the media nowadays, including sports, where every ESPN panelist offers his predictions with rock-solid confidence, and never acknowledges his mistake when the team he’d picked to win ends up on the wrong side of a lopsided blowout.
Trafficking in fake expertise is routine practice at CNN, where their dwindling audience is now expected to believe that such personalities as Kasie Hunt and Erin Burnett know more about the effectiveness of U.S. military weapons than does Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It’s worth noting in this context that CNN invested heavily in the idea that Hegseth was not qualified to be in charge of the Pentagon, despite his experience as an officer in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.
Scarcely had the B-2 bombers returned from their bombing mission against Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility than CNN went to work to prove that the Air Force mission was a failure. . . .

Please read the rest of my latest American Spectator column. When I sent it to Dianna Deeley, she complained that I’d started the Paw Patrol theme song playing in her head. We’re on a roll!



 

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The Worst Democrat in Congress?

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The question mark in the headline is necessary because, of course, the competition for Worst Democrat in Congress is fierce. Ilhan Omar, Jamie Raskin, Eric Swalwell — it’s a tough league. But keep your eye on the representative from the 30th District of Texas, about which Wikipedia says: “With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+27, it is the most Democratic district in Texas.” If your employer relocated you to Dallas, and you were looking to purchase a residence in the area, I’d advise you to stay as far away from the 30th District as possible. Nothing good ever happens inside a D+27 congressional district.

For the past several years, I’ve been watching CNN (so you don’t have to), but about a week ago, I switched my office TV to Fox News for the first time in recent memory, because the shrieking craziness from CNN had become so intense, even I couldn’t cope with it anymore. Therefore I must thank Jeff Poor of Breitbart for providing a transcript of what Rep. Jamine Crockett said on CNN Monday night:

We right now have a white supremacist that is sitting in the White House. He is backed up by other white supremacists. And if you really want to know who the criminals are in this country, you can Google it.
You don’t have to trust me. But the people that commit 80% of the most violent crimes in this country are white supremacists. Yet, for whatever reason, they sit and they serve at the pleasure of the president. They are the ones that were there on January 6th tearing our democracy down physically. And now, we have them tearing us down right here from within. . . .

This remark was made, by the way, in response to a question from CNN’s Laura Coates about Trump appointing one of his former speechwriters, Darren Beattie, to a job in the State Department. Beattie has a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and acquired the “white supremacist” label in a guilt-by-aasociation smear after it was learned he had spoken at a meeting of the H.L. Mencken Club. Darren Beattie has never committed any violent crime, which is more than you can say for a lot of Jasmine Crockett’s constituents in the 30th District of Texas.

Anyway, more from Crockett’s CNN interview:

[T]he coddling is for the white boys. That’s what’s happening right now. I am tired of the white tears. Listen, if you are competent, you are not concerned. . . .
So, the only people that are crying are the mediocre white boys that have been beaten out by people that historically have had to work so much harder. . . .
But I got news for them. I don’t care what they do. We will fight to the end to make sure that we get our due because, again, if you want to talk about the people that shouldn’t be in this country, you probably need to look in the mirror, because the last time I checked, the Native Americans who [some are?] ICE have been rounding up or the Puerto Ricans who are absolutely Americans, listen, the only people that came and colonized this place are your ancestors, Trump.

Uh, Trump’s grandfather was an immigrant from Germany who arrived in America in 1885, long after we “colonized this place” which, unfortunately, includes the 30th District of Texas.



 

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GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!

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If you’re going to make the liberal media pay for their wrongdoing, try to find yourself a jury in Panama City, Florida:

A Florida jury on Friday found CNN liable for defaming a Navy veteran who helped evacuate people from Afghanistan after the US military withdrew from the country in 2021.
The six-person jury said CNN had to pay damages totaling $5 million. There will be a second phase of the trial to determine any punitive damages. The verdict followed a two-week trial in Panama City, Fla., state court.
A CNN representative said the network would not comment until the jury decided punitive damages.
Plaintiff Zachary Young sued CNN in 2022, accusing the Warner Bros Discovery unit of destroying his reputation in a segment on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” by branding him as a profiteer who exploited desperate Afghans by charging exorbitant fees.

Heh heh heh. Ace of Spades notes that the jury asked the judge if they could have access to a calculator in determining punitive damages, which is not a favorable omen for CNN. Panama City is in Bay County, which voted 73% for Trump, so this trial is sort of the reverse of — perhaps, in some sense, vengeance for — Trump being taken to trial in Democrat-dominated Manhattan. Let’s hope they max the punitive damages.



 

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Watching CNN (So You Don’t Have To)

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The most popular show on CNN, Anderson Cooper 360 at 8 p.m. ET, gets about 700,000 viewers. The total viewership of the two-hour interview Donald Trump did on X with Elon Musk is unknown, but it was certainly in the many millions — far bigger than the audience for Cooper or Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Caitlin Collins, et al. So it is rather amusing that CNN, which can’t get an interview with Kamala Harris, slams Musk for scoring an interview with Trump, an interview that is much more popular than anything on CNN. In between endless hype of Kamala (the candidate who won’t even talk to them), CNN spent Tuesday airing a lot of coverage about the alleged strategic errors of the Trump campaign. Trump should stop mocking and insulting Kamala, according to the “experts” cited by the failed third-place cable news network. Because, yeah, Republicans should take advice from S.E. Cupp.

CNN is one small part of a gigantic media cabal trying to help Kamala Harris run out the clock. The object of the game is to get the Democratic nominee to early voting season without her ever being asked a tough question or otherwise risking exposure as the unprincipled, incompetent airhead she has always been. If it’s actual news you’re looking for, don’t bother tuning into CNN. Trust me, I watch it every day.



 

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Category: CNN

Prediction: Worst ‘Debate,’ Ever

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Every day, I watch CNN (so you don’t have to) and for the past several days, they’ve been hyping up tonight’s so-called “debate” between Joe Biden and Donald Trump as the Most Important Debate in World History. Like everything else on CNN, this is a lie.

There will be no actual debate tonight. That is to say, the way the rules are set up, there will be no back-and-forth between the candidates. In collusion with Team Biden, CNN decided that, to prevent interruptions, the microphones of the candidates will be shut off when it’s not their turn to speak. So when Biden predictably starts spewing arrant nonsense, Trump will not be able to say, “Wait a minute, that’s not true.” Or, if he does say that, you won’t be able to hear him say it.

Obviously, both “moderators” for the debate — CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash — are notoriously dishonest partisan Democrats and, my brother Kirby has predicted, CNN supplied Team Biden with copies of the “debate” questions in advance (cf., Donna Brazille in 2016). So if the CNN operatives appear to throw a “hardball” question at Biden, and he handles it so well that you might think, “Wow, that was pretty quick thinking,” do not be deceived. Biden has spent the past seven days practicing answering these questions — his team had them word-for-word, a week in advance — and no one should be surprised that he’s got his answers thoroughly prepared. It’s all a set-up, the result is pre-ordained. When the debate is over, everyone will proclaim Biden the winner, and they’ll have the 30-second sound-bite clips to prove it.

Trump supporters watching the debate tonight will be seething with anger the entire 90 minutes at the gross unfairness of it all, and guess what? There’s nothing you can do about it. Team Trump agreed to this debate six weeks ago, and if they expected CNN to do anything other than what they predictably will do — i.e., orchestrate the “debate” to be a free Biden campaign commercial — they were incredibly naïve.

Is it possible that I’m wrong about all this? Is it possible that this “debate” will be anything like a fair colloquy between the two candidates, so that Trump could win and Biden could somehow lose? Feel free to get back to me after the debate and tell me if I was wrong, but I expect to be completely vindicated. Jake Tapper and Dana Bash get paid to lie on behalf of Democrats, and I’m sure they’ll earn their pay tonight.



 

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Six Weeks Until First Debate

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The earliest presidential debate, ever:

CNN is President Joe Biden’s preferred network to host at least one presidential debate, he said Wednesday.
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will host, according to Puck News. . . .
The Biden campaign said the president would debate Trump only in June and September, without live audiences present.
“I’ve received and accepted an invitation from @CNN for a debate on June 27th,” Biden posted on X. “Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place.”
Trump accepted Biden’s invitation and urged the president to debate him earlier and more often.
“I’m ready to go…The dates that they proposed are fine…Let’s see if Joe can make it to the stand-up podium,” Trump reportedly told Fox News Digital. “The proposed June and early September dates are fully acceptable to me. I will provide my own transportation.”
Trump also said he would debate Biden in October on Fox News.

Of course, everybody sees this setup as favoring Biden, who is trailing Trump in most polls and therefore will welcome the chance to reset the perceptions in a friendly media forum, knowing that CNN is completely controlled by partisan Democrats. As someone who routinely watches CNN (so you don’t have to), I can attest that Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are about as objective as Karine Jean-Pierre. Everybody sees this debate arrangement as proof of how desperate the Biden campaign is:

President Joe Biden’s decision to take Donald Trump up on his “anytime and anywhere” debate offer and propose June and September debates is a clear sign of worry among his reelection campaign team.
Two months ago, Biden cracked the door open to not having any debates, which hadn’t happened in a presidential race since 1972. Asked by a reporter if he would “commit to a debate with former President Trump,” Biden responded, “It depends on his behavior.”
Nothing has changed about Trump’s behavior since then. What also hasn’t changed is who is leading the polls. . . .
Recent polling suggests Biden only has a narrow path to 270. He would need a bigger recovery in the more diverse Sun Belt swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina—where his deficit is generally around 5 or 6 points—to recreate the multiple paths he had four years ago when he narrowly defeated Trump in several critical battlegrounds.

So we’re going to have a debate in June — more than four months before Election Day — and what happens if that doesn’t resurrect Biden’s poll numbers? Frank Lautenberg could not be reached for comment.



 

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Even CNN Has to Admit Biden’s Losing

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Speaking as “someone worried about the prospects of a second Trump term,” Fareed Zarkaria yesterday told his viewers on CNN, “I think it’s best to be honest about reality,” i.e., Biden’s losing:

“The shift here is stark,” Zakaria pointed out. “On the question of whom voters trust more to deal with the economy, Trump has a 22-point lead over Biden, according to an NBC poll from January. This marks of a 15-point bump for Trump compared to the same poll in 2020.”
“Perhaps this is because inflation is a far more pervasive problem than unemployment, affecting all Americans every day,” he pondered.
You think?
Zakaria then admitted that even when it comes to cultural issues, Biden still can’t catch a break. Even though he thinks Democrats can benefit from the Republican Party’s position on abortion, Biden lags far behind on the issue of immigration, which polls indicate is a more concerning issue. Zakaria even doubts that abortion will be a significant issue in the race because the issue of regulating abortion has been brought back to the states.
But Zakaria is most worried about the lack of unity in the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war, while Republicans “seem to be uniting behind Trump.”
“Whatever opposition he faced in the primaries has largely melted away,” he observed.
And then came Zakaria’s most significant admission.
“And the trials against him keep him in the spotlight, infuriate his base who sees him as a martyr, and even may serve to make him the object of some sympathy among people in general who believed that his prosecutors are politically motivated,” he said. “This happens to be true in my opinion. I doubt the New York indictment would have been brought against a defendant whose name was not Donald Trump.” . . .
Ultimately, Zakaria conceded that the “trendlines are not working in Biden’s favor.”
“He needs to do something bold and dramatic to seize the initiative, on asylum policy, for example, and reverse these numbers,” he suggests, but in light of the dramatic shift in the numbers since 2020, he believes “there’s very little that Joe Biden can do now to change that perception.”

Understand that Fareed Zakaria is not just a liberal, but a liberal who works at CNN, an echo-chamber/bubble/hivemind of Democrat partisanship, a media organization with zero balance. So if things look so gloomy for Biden that Zakaria is not only able to see it, but is allowed to say it on the air at CNN? Yeah, it’s very bad for Biden.

We are now 25 weeks — 176 days, to be exact — away from November 5. A lot could happen between now and then, so you can’t say that Trump’s got this in the bag. However, the possibility of a Biden rebound grows more and more unlikely, the longer the current polling picture continues. What I expect to happen (and I’ve predicted this recently in a memo to some well-connected acquaintances) is for the Democrats to do something like the 2002 Torricelli/Lautenberg switch.

Who will they pick to replace Biden? How and when will they make the switch? These are mere details. The point is that Biden increasingly looks like a guaranteed loser in November, and I can’t see Democrats just throwing away the election, which is what they would be doing if they keep Biden as their candidate. Therefore, expect some kind of medical emergency that will require Biden to step aside, and Democrats will slip Gavin Newsom in as their substitute 2024 candidate.



 

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A Made-for-TV Travesty: Can You Guess Who Takes Stormy Daniels Seriously?

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One must be a connoisseur of media bias — or perhaps a glutton for punishment — to watch CNN, which I do (so you don’t have to). Do executives at the third-place cable news networks really think America craves wall-to-wall coverage of the sordid Stormy Daniels “hush money” trial inflicted upon Donald Trump by Soros-sponsored Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg? It boggles my mind that anyone could possibly take this trial seriously, and yet, day after day, there’s Jake Tapper acting as ringmaster of this absurd circus, acting as if a vast audience were tuned in, eager to get the latest details.

THERE IS NO ACTUAL CRIME INVOLVED IN THIS CASE!

Every intelligent American understands this and, I have to point out, Jake Tapper is not stupid. However, his job is to pretend that he doesn’t know what I’m sure he actually does know, i.e., that even if this Manhattan jury were to convict Trump, Bragg’s case is so bogus that it will certainly be thrown out on appeal. It’s not just me saying this, either. Guy Benson, who is perhaps slightly less anti-Trump than David French, calls it a “disgraceful, politically-motivated case”:

The legal theory, if you can call it that, behind Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution involves resuscitating lapsed, possible misdemeanors related to bookkeeping categorizations of (totally legal) ‘hush money’ payments. In order to bypass a pesky ‘expired statute of limitations’ problem, and to escalate the alleged offenses into dozens of felonies, Bragg says the bookkeeping scheme was undertaken in furtherance of an additional crime that he still has not revealed. The Biden donor judge in the case has somehow allowed this to move forward, which many legal experts (including longtime federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy) point to as a glaring basis for appeal. But the final outcome of such a process is beside the real point of this trial, which is to secure a conviction — even if temporarily — against Donald Trump before the November election.
Bragg’s predecessor in the DA’s office looked at these exact same facts and declined to pursue charges. The feds did the same. . . . The ‘crime’ doesn’t involve the alleged affair or the existence of the payment, neither of which violated the law.  It involves the way Trump and his lawyer listed the payment in documents. Nevertheless, the jury was treated to salacious specifics about sexual positions, etc. during Daniels’ testimony. . . .

Read the whole thing, because those brief excerpts just barely skim the surface of what’s wrong with this trial, namely everything.

The whole point of Bragg’s case — the raison d’être of this illegitimate prosecution — is to help reelect Joe Biden (which assumes, of course, that Biden actually was elected in 2020, but they’ll condemn you as a dangerous “extremist” if you raise questions about that). And this partisan campaign effort relies upon the willing cooperation of the media, to give it the semblance of being a serious legal matter (which, as previously explained, it’s not). Here’s the big clue: It is immaterial to the alleged criminality of the “hush money” payment whether Trump did or did not have sex with Stephanie Gregory Clifford, the used-up, broken-down, hotdog-down-a-hallway 304 known as “Stormy Daniels.”

Despite the irrelevance of this, the prosecution was allowed to put this lying whore on the witness stand to regale the jury with what she claims are the details of her alleged rendezvous with Donald Trump — which, I hasten to add, she claims happened in July 2006.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME WITH THIS?

This “scandal” is about what allegedly happened 18 years ago, a full decade before Trump was elected president and, as I say, it is immaterial to Bragg’s case whether or not sex happened between Trump and this worn-out floozy. Bragg’s “case” (which is not really a case at all) is about the falsification of records related to the payments made to keep the story out of the media in 2016. Bragg’s far-fetched theory is that the payments to Miss Echo Canyon should have been counted as an expense by the Trump campaign, thereby violating federal election regulations. (Of course, it’s not the job of the Manhattan DA’s office to enforce federal election law but, even if it were, nearly all such violations are dealt with by having the offending campaign pay a monetary fine.) Everybody with two eyes and a brain can see that what Bragg is doing is simply about smearing Trump by rehashing this bogus “scandal” which no intelligent person ever cared about to begin with. And yet, despite the laughable fraudulence of this trial, the Serious People in charge of CNN are engaged in an all-hands-on-deck effort to convince their retarded audience that what’s happening in the Manhattan courtroom is Very Important.

Get back to me on Wednesday, November 6, and tell me how effective this Democratic strategy was. My hunch is, it’s going to be a failure. Maybe not as much of a failure as CNN’s ratings, but pretty close.



 

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