Following President Trump’s Thursday night statement claiming widespread voter fraud, CNN chose not to simply dissect and/or dismantle Trump’s claims with any sobriety. Instead, the apocalyptic network threw one tantrum after the next over how the “flailing” and “obese turtle...in a hot sun” decided to “attack democracy” and supposedly “incit[e] violence” on what was “sad night for the United States of America.”
AC360 host Anderson Cooper was the worst, coming across like he had prepared zingers for a late-night comedy show monologue in trashing Trump as “the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in a hot sun realizing his time is over, but he just hasn't accepted it and he wants to take everybody down with him, including this country.”
Prior to that, Cooper ruled: “I don't think we've ever seen anything like this from a President of the United States, and I think as Jake said, it's sad and it is truly pathetic, and of course, it is dangerous.”
The Lead and State of the Union host Jake Tapper went first after Trump finished speaking, proclaiming November 5 to have been “a sad night for the United States of America to hear their President say that, to falsely accuse people of trying to steal the election, to try to attack democracy that way with his feast of falsehoods.”
Chief political correspondent Dana Bash replied that what Trump said was not only “illogical” and “nonsensical,” but he caused her to “hav[e] trouble kind of keeping it together after listening to the President of the United States saying what he just said.”
Fellow lefty political correspondent Abby Phillip lamented that Trump was “selfish[ly]” “trying to take the rest of the country” and America’s “voting system down with him.”
“This is a complete farce and a travesty and it's incredible that he's doing it from the White House,” she added.
Moments later, Bash exhibited the left’s years-long fear of right-wing violence but none for actual, documented violence by leftists: “[H]e and mostly his children on Twitter are sowing the seeds of doubt in democracy, in a way that is — it is going to make it very hard for his party, frankly, to come back from.”
Phillip made sure to agree, asserting that “the President and his children especially are actively and openly inciting violence in this country” and “would get violent,” so “it really needs to stop.”
Flashing his hatred for people who won’t vote Democratic and kneel before Zucker, Tapper snarked: “It's time for some Republican lawmakers to find their spine and talk to the President about what he needs to do for the good of the country.”
Chief political analyst Gloria Borger was also having a normal one out there (click “expand”):
I think that the world is watching and they're watching an American President undermine democracy in the United States. It's painful to those of us who love America. It is painful and dangerous what he's doing. It is not surprising, of course, because he told us early on that if he didn't win he was going to say the election was rigged and maybe we didn't believe he would come out and do it in this way, but it is still startling to us to just hear the President from a podium in the white house undermine democracy[.]
(....)
It’s disgraceful. I've covered politics a really long time and I've never witnessed anything like this, and again, as you're saying, you're not surprised, but it's still stunning and striking on so many levels. You talk about the issue of race. I totally agree with you, but it's watching a President who is unable to accept loss or potential loss, defeat, losing is for suckers, remember that? If he can't accept it, so he has to find a way to undermine the process that has him losing, and the process that has him losing is democracy. How can you do that when you are President of the United States? Again, not surprising, but just shocking and very sad.
Before Trump spoke, carnival barker Jim Acosta wondered if there should “be a surgeon general warning” applied to Trump’s remarks because it wasn’t going to “be in line with the facts, may be hazardous to your democracy, may be hazardous to the counting of the votes.”
Acosta predictably kept up the hysteria in his comments afterward, insisting that “what we listened to just a few moments ago from the President it sounded an awful lot like an attack on American democracy and President Trump fired the first shot in this attack on our democracy.”
Acosta’s colleague and former conservative reporter Kaitlan Collins denounced Trump as “undermining democracy,” but seemed to have inadvertently made a case that undermined CNN’s DEFCON-1 attitude about what he had said (click “expand”):
Well, Anderson, not only were the president's comments undermining democracy, he also just seemed to express a complete misunderstanding of how elections work and particularly this election and how people have been saying for the last six months they expected Tuesday to go and the days that followed and we've seen it play out exactly as people predicted, but the President seemed genuinely surprised that he was leading in some states on Tuesday and he is now trailing in those states as millions more votes have been counted particularly from Democrats given that the president encouraged his own supporters not to vote by mail for six months. When you wage a campaign against mail-in voting for the better power of the year before the election, your voters will not vote by mail and then you will get your vets on election day and not in the days that followed, but he seemed genuinely surprised that he was leading by a substantial margin in places like Pennsylvania and like Georgia and now those margins have narrowed significantly as we have seen more Democratic votes comes in and be counted and be perfectly legal.
For years, CNN would denounce one Trump controversy or set of remarks after another (like here, here, and here) as if doomsday was upon us. And yet, America was and is still standing, which leaves us with yet another reminder of how CNN isn’t a news organization. Rather, CNNers engage in melting down over, performing, shaping the news instead of delivering it.
This CNN meltdown was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Humira and TD Ameritrade. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CNN transcript from November 5, click “expand.”
CNN Election Night in America Continued
November 5, 2020
7:03 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: What a sad night for the United States of America to hear their President say that, to falsely accuse people of trying to steal the election, to try to attack democracy that way with his feast of falsehoods. Lie after lie, after lie about the election being stolen. No evidence for what he's saying, just smears about the integrity of vote counting in state after state. When he wins a state, it's legitimate. When he loses it's because the vote is being stolen from me — from him. It's not true. It's ugly. It's frankly, pathetic. The President, for example, he assailed vote by mail. Why he asked, why are the vote by mail ballots so overwhelmingly in favor of Joe Biden? We all know the answer. It's because the President told his supporters not to vote by mail. So Democrats did it overwhelmingly and his supporters turned out in droves on election day. Look, President Trump has always been transparent about the smears and lies and strategies of falsehoods. We knew he was going to do this. We knew he was going to claim votes by mail were not real, but he's wrong. It's a lie. He's lying about the election. He's smearing the American people. He's smearing people who are working at polls and it's a disgrace. We knew — we knew that the President was not going to lose graciously, if he lost, but frankly, watching him flail like this is just — it's just pathetic.
DANA BASH: As he was talking I was trying to reach out to some senior Republicans to ask when the intervention is going to happen because this isn't just partisan. This isn't just dangerous. It's nonsensical. It's illogical, and there are so many things to say. One of the things that I was thinking about listening to him now is how much we've listened to him for the past four or five months telling his voters, do not vote early. It's fraudulent, and now we sort of suspected it then. Now we know the reason for that, so that he could have this moment in the white house briefing room. So he could say that the votes that are coming in by mail are fraudulent, and the reason is because he knew that Democrats, because we are in a pandemic, were more apt to vote early by mail and to not want to want to risk their health and sometimes their lives by going to vote in person. He set — it's a setup. He set the country up. He set his supporters up for a moment like this which is completely false and you said sad. It is sad. I mean, I'm not an emotional person, and I am having trouble kind of keeping it together after listening to the President of the United States saying what he just said.
ABBY PHILLIP: The — this President clearly knows this that this is not going to end well for him or he believes that, and he's trying to take the rest of the country down with him.
TAPPER: Yeah.
BASH: Yep.
PHILLIP: He's trying to take the voting system down with him and the democratic process down with him, and beyond being completely selfish, it also is just wrong, and as you said, where is the intervention? I don't know where it is, and it probably should have happened months ago, because as you said, Dana, he already told us he was going to do this and he's said months ago the only way I could lose this election is if there were widespread, massive fraud which we knew was not going to happen and now he is apparently — he believes he is losing the election and the numbers are not heading in his direction and he's claiming that there is fraud everywhere in the country except for one place. The place where the vote count is narrowing in his favor in Arizona. This is a complete farce and a travesty and it's incredible that he's doing it from the White House, but notable also, vice President Mike Pence nowhere to be found.
TAPPER: Well, the other thing is the other point that you made earlier Abby, which is the President would like us to believe, would like the nation to believe that there is this grand conspiracy in every state in the nation to take this election from him, and yet, somebody else gave him a list of Republican accomplishments in his election to read from, right? Not one Republican lost a seat in the House. [BASH LAUGHS] Republicans held on to the Senate, a tremendous night of success for the Republican Party so President Trump would have you believe that the elections went great for every Republican in the country almost, except for him. So the diabolical Democrats and big money, big media, and big tech conspired and we all got together and we decided what we're going to do is we're going to help every Republican win elections across the country except for Donald Trump.
BASH: Yeah.
TAPPER: Does that make sense to anybody except for the most fevered brain?
BASH: Yes. Unfortunately, the answer is is it logical? Of course, not. Did what you just make sense? Absolutely. I'm trying to dissect it. But I will say it again, one of the reasons why what we just heard and saw is dangerous and it's not just because he's the President of the United States. It is because there are so many people who absolutely love him and believe everything he says. So they are — he and mostly his children on Twitter are sowing the seeds of doubt in democracy, in a way that is — it is going to make it very hard for his party, frankly, to come back from.
PHILLIP: You know, the President and his children especially are actively and openly inciting violence in this country. The President's son tweeted that Trump will go to war over this election. The President said tonight that his supporters were so angry that they couldn't get into a place where they were tabulating votes that they would get violent almost. So it's intentional and it's dangerous and it really needs to stop. The votes need to be counted and the President needs to abide by whatever that result is. He signaled tonight that he is not going to be willing to do that, and that is dangerous for this country.
TAPPER: It's time for some Republican lawmakers to find their spine and talk to the President about what he needs to do for the good of the country. Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER: Jake, thanks very much. We have never seen really other than — I don't think we've ever seen anything like this from a President of the United States, and I think as Jake said, it's sad and it is truly pathetic, and of course, it is dangerous and of course it will go to court, but you'll notice the President did not have any evidence presented at all. Nothing. No real, actual evidence of any kind of fraud, talked about people putting up papers in windows. He talked about things that he'd seen on the internet. That is the President of the United States. That is the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in a hot sun realizing his time is over, but he just hasn't accepted it and he wants to take everybody down with him, including this country. Gloria?
GLORIA BORGER: You know, I think that the world is watching and they're watching an American President undermine democracy in the United States. It's painful to those of us who love America. It is painful and dangerous what he's doing. It is not surprising, of course, because he told us early on that if he didn't win he was going to say the election was rigged and maybe we didn't believe he would come out and do it in this way, but it is still startling to us to just hear the President from a podium in the white house undermine democracy, and as Jake was saying before, I have to keep saying, if this was such a big plot by Democrats, why didn't they do better? Why didn't they do better in the House? Why didn't they do better in the Senate? So the President makes himself the ultimate victim here. Over and over again, it's about him and it's — and it’s not about the fact that the other Republicans did okay. It's about him and his family is complaining why isn't everybody coming out and defending him? Why isn't Lindsay Graham coming out and defending him? Because a lot of Republicans, it is time for them to say enough is enough.
(....)
7:20 p.m. Eastern
BORGER: It’s disgraceful. I've covered politics a really long time and I've never witnessed anything like this, and again, as you're saying, you're not surprised, but it's still stunning and striking on so many levels. You talk about the issue of race. I totally agree with you, but it's watching a President who is unable to accept loss or potential loss, defeat, losing is for suckers, remember that? If he can't accept it, so he has to find a way to undermine the process that has him losing, and the process that has him losing is democracy. How can you do that when you are President of the United States? Again, not surprising, but just shocking and very sad.
COOPER: Let me go to Jim Acosta who is at the White House. Jim?
JIM ACOSTA: Yeah, I mean, Anderson, I think what we listened to just a few moments ago from the President it sounded an awful lot like an attack on American democracy and President Trump fired the first shot in this attack on our democracy, and let me tell you, just, you know, based on what I've observed covering him over the last five years, what the President counts on often is that he can exhaust his adversaries. He can exhaust you to the point where you just give up. Where you let him have his way and what we're seeing take place in these counting centers and these various states that are still up for grabs is the tireless work of our fellow Americans counting the ballots. They're not getting — they're probably exhausted, but they're not going to let that stop them from doing what they're doing, so I would say and this has been sort of my, you know, guiding principal guiding this President for the last four or five years is that you can't get so exhausted to the point you give up. You can't stop fact checking him and calling him out on the carpet. What we heard from the President just a short while ago, it sounded like somebody who is just a sore loser. He sees the writing on the wall and the writing on the wall says he's a one-term President, and as Gloria was saying, he doesn't want to be one of the suckers and the losers. He wants to be a winner and for the President, winning is everything, but at this point, the math isn't there. As a Trump adviser told me earlier today, the math isn't there. We need an act of God to change the course of this race. It's not happening, and so you know, my sense of it is that, yes, at this point the President and his team will try to lock things up. They're going to try to lock up the gears of this democracy in court, but they're — they’re fighting a losing battle when you have the President saying stop the counting in places like Philadelphia and Detroit and keep the counting going in Arizona. As someone who has been involved in a court case with the President, that is the kind of legal argument that is just not going to cut the mustard, and I — you know, my guess is that we're going to see more frustrated, sore loser-like pronouncements and declarations from the President over the coming days, but he's not in control of this. The voters are in control of this and our fellow Americans are in control of this and the people who count the ballots and election officials who are in control of this and not the President. The Constitution guides us through this process and established election law in this country guides us through this process. Ballots will be counted, ballots will be certified, election results will be certified and the President, you know, he can try to stay in the White House come — come January 20th and Joe Biden can be sworn in over at the Four Seasons in Georgetown and be President down there. The president thinks he has won the game, but at this point, you know, he is as much a witness to all of this as we are. He's as much a bystander to all of this as we are. We have to count the ballots, guys.
COOPER: Yeah. There is — this is a country of laws, and though the President has said he is a law and order president, well, we will see about that. There are laws. This will go to courts. Evidence has to be produced, as Rick Santorum said. If there is evidence, that will — judges will decide on that. Much of what the President said tonight is without — there is not real evidence and if he has real evidence for it, that will be presented in court. The American people can see that. Kaitlan Collins standing by as well. Kaitlan?
KAITLAN COLLINS: Well, Anderson, not only were the president's comments undermining democracy, he also just seemed to express a complete misunderstanding of how elections work and particularly this election and how people have been saying for the last six months they expected Tuesday to go and the days that followed and we've seen it play out exactly as people predicted, but the President seemed genuinely surprised that he was leading in some states on Tuesday and he is now trailing in those states as millions more votes have been counted particularly from Democrats given that the president encouraged his own supporters not to vote by mail for six months. When you wage a campaign against mail-in voting for the better power of the year before the election, your voters will not vote by mail and then you will get your vets on election day and not in the days that followed, but he seemed genuinely surprised that he was leading by a substantial margin in places like Pennsylvania and like Georgia and now those margins have narrowed significantly as we have seen more Democratic votes comes in and be counted and be perfectly legal.
