CNN Newsroom guest host Bianna Golodryga touted how she was born in the Soviet Union and alleged on Monday that the Republican Party is heading in the direction of the old U.S.S.R., because it no longer recognizes the differences between fact and fiction.
In a conversation with one-term Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Virginia) about the future of the party, Golodryga declared, "I came from a former Soviet Union [sic], where you have the government dictating propaganda and lies to you left, right, and center to the point constituents didn't know fact from fiction. It sounds like that may be the direction at least one party is headed in this country."
She then asked Riggleman, "What can be done to fix that? We do need more than one party in this country to succeed."
This was not the first time Golodryga (born in Moldova) compared Republicans to Soviet or Russian authoritarianism. Back in 2018 she alleged criticism of the Mueller investigation was Putin-esque.
Riggleman was defeated in a strange "drive-through nominating convention" in Lynchburg last July by Bob Good, who won the seat in November. Since then, Riggleman's anti-Trump stance has made him a popular CNN guest.
He told Golodryga that Republicans need "to start from the bottom up. You know, there's a top down-bottom up squeeze with conspiracy theories, where the bottom up sort of propagates it ,but the top down, they spread it, right? And that's the issue that you have. So you have to have people willing to go to the community level, the grass-roots level, go in front of 70 people who are going to scream at you and say you're a traitor, and try to present facts. And I know that sounds, you know, almost like you're spitting in the wind, right? But at some point somebody has to do that."
Unfortunately, the former GOP congressman pleased CNN by trying to portray conspiracy theorist and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as more popular than she really is, "Let me give you an example. How many Republicans have come out for Jaime Beutler Herrera, how many have come out against Marjorie Taylor Greene's tweet about her?" He claimed only he and a few others like Rep. Adam Kinzinger are willing to run against "Stop the Steal" antics.
Golodryga wrapped things up by telling Riggleman, "Look, it cost you your seat. Your voice is valuable here and continuing to spread this message to the country. The truth matters, right in dispelling these rumors and lies."
Truth does matter and while Riggleman made valid points about the election, he and CNN would be wise to stop portraying Republicans, as a whole, as a bunch of Greene-esque conspiracy theorists, because there's no evidence of that.
This segment was sponsored by Tempur-Pedic
Here is a transcript of the February 15 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom
9:36 AM ET
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: So, how do we do that? I came from a former Soviet Union where you have the government dictating propaganda and lies to you left, right, center to the point constituents didn't know fact from fiction. It sounds like that may be the direction at least one party is headed in this country. What can be done to fix that? We do need more than one party in this country to succeed.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN: It has to start from the bottom up. You know, there is a top-down, bottom up squeeze with conspiracy theories, the bottom-up propagates, the top-down, they spread it. You have to have people willing to go to the community level, the grassroots level and go in front of people that scream at you and say are you a traitor facts. I know, that sounds like you are spitting in the wind, right? At some point, somebody has do that. I have been trying. There‘s other people, but only a few. Let me give you an example. How many Republicans have come out for Jaime Beutler Herrera [sic], how many have come out against Marjorie Taylor Greene's tweet about her? How many come out on this ridiculous things that are being said on social media and in press releases or people that are saying they’re still going run on Stop The Steal election integrity." Not that many. Adam Kinzinger, me, a few other. That's it and that's all you need to know. It's much more than anecdotal. You have to look at the data and fight at the grassroots level in your own community and say this is ridiculous. This isn't true. Until people are brave enough to face in the masses like that, we will have a tough time, because again us talking, the committees just don't care that me and you are having there discussion. They don't care.
GOLODRYGA: Look. It cost you your seat. Your voice is valuable here and continuing to spread this message to the country. The truth matters, right in dispelling these rumors and lies.RIGGLEMAN: Yes, ma’am
GOLODRYGA: Thank you so much, Congressman Denver Riggleman. We appreciate it.
