Tuesday afternoon’s CNN Newsroom provided the latest example of how little has changed at CNN as senior political analyst Ron Brownstein channeled their tiresome liberal punditry to assert that, based on a gotcha CNN poll and their intuitions, Republicans were the party of white nationalism and, therefore, in the same grouping as parents who were concerned about how race and sex were taught in schools.
Thankfully, CNN senior political commentator (and actual conservative) Scott Jennings wasn’t having any of it.
Towards the end of the segment, Brownstein interjected to sound off on the CNN poll that found, in the words of Keilar, “in just four years the number of Republicans who say the country’s increasing racial, ethnic, and national diversity is threatening American culture has nearly doubled.”
Brownstein couched his comparison of concerned parents to white nationalism by saying there’s “a continuum” in the GOP as the party’s “centered on the voters who are most uneasy about the way the country is changing, demographically and culturally.” Talk about one of the oldest media smears in the book against the GOP.
Brownstein dragged on:
[Y]ou see in polling up to three-quarters of Republican voters say discrimination against whites is now as big a problem as discrimination against minorities, over 70 percent say the growing number of immigrants is undermining American culture. Three-fifths to two-thirds say society is too soft and feminine and is punishing men just for acting like men.
The former Ralph Nader aide then huffed that such social stances were “a fundamental fault line in our politics and it is clear the energy in the Republican Party is for candidates who express resistance to that in all sorts of ways from classroom censorship to book bans to what’s happening on LGBTQ rights in the red states.”
Keilar tried to wrap the segment, but Jennings was disgusted. Amid Brownstein’s cross-talk insisting he wasn’t linking the two, Jennings called out this mealy-mouthed attitude:
But you can’t compare — let me just say — you — you get — I just — it’s — it is not right to compare a — a Republican parent who has concerns — who has con — who has concerns about what is happening in the classroom with a white nationalist. It’s just not correct to say, well, I think schools ought to have this kind of curriculum. That doesn’t make you a white nationalist to be concerned about what’s being taught in a school.
Noting he could “see...you’re trying to link them together” when “it’s not true,” Brownstein insisted he wasn’t. However, he proceeded to do the opposite: “[I]t’s not the same thing but — but it’s on a continuum of concerns about the way the country is changing.”
Earlier in the segment, Keilar posed this question to Jennings about the nebulous poll result: “What do you think is going to happen here? Will that continue to shoehorn Republicans into continuing to play footsie with white nationalism even if they don’t want to but they’re going to go that direction?”
Jennings batted that premise aside: “I totally reject the idea that the Republican Party is based on or playing footsie with or has anything to do with white nationalism. I think it’s completely wrong and you do not have to do anything with it in order to be the Republican nominee.”
He added that white nationalism “has no place in our party” or anywhere “on the American political spectrum” and totally separate from the “legitimate concerns...out about corporate endeavors and other...cultural push and pull...some people on the left want” like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Keilar stuck to her stereotype and lamented the Republican Party wasn’t made up of people who’d think like the late John McCain would do in 2008 and lecture a voter if they made an inflammatory comment. Jennings again blasted Keilar’s attempt to smear the right (click “expand”):
KEILAR: Well, Scott, let me just be clear in what I’m talking about, which would be — at some time I think if you think back to McCain — right — and how he would make sure to speak up and push back on maybe something that a voter would say or he would be very vociferous and this is something you used to hear more from Republicans that if there was another Republican who was saying something that they thought was bigoted, and they didn’t think should represent the party, they would come out against it, right? I mean, but sometimes you’ll see that they don’t come out as vociferously as they used to and I wonder if when you’re looking at voters trending in that direction, if that is going to make it more difficult for Republicans to do that.
JENNINGS: Well, I will just think back on recent examples of this since you’re saying sometimes, which is a nebulous term, but the most recent example is when Donald Trump had Kanye West and that other freak over for lunch and virtually every major national Republican from every wing of the Republican Party immediately denounced it. And so, I think what you’ll find if you look into it is that when people stray off in this ridiculous direction most Republicans actually know the difference between right and wrong on this. I’m not saying Trump does necessarily because he obviously makes terrible decisions but I think at least in that most recent example where somebody was trying to include somebody that has sort of a stupid and horrific ideology, it was widely condemned by virtually every corner of the Republican Party.
CNN’s latest example of how nothing has truly changed from Jeff Zucker to Chris Licht in how they hate conservatives and Republicans was made possible thanks to advertisers such as MRHFM (Mesothelioma Law Firm) and Whole Foods Market. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcript from March 14, click “expand.”
CNN Newsroom
March 14, 2023
1:38 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: CNN Poll; 38% of GOP Think Increased Diversity Threatens American Culture]
BRIANNA KEILAR: According also to the new polling, Scott, when — I think something that is very significant, which is in just four years the number of Republicans who say the country’s increasing racial, ethnic, and national diversity is threatening American culture has nearly doubled. It is still at a minority here but that’s a big minority, 38 percent. And it’s nearly doubled. What do you think is going to happen here? Will that continue to shoe horn Republicans into continuing to play footsie with white nationalism even if they don’t want to but they’re going to go that direction?
SCOTT JENNINGS: I totally reject the idea that the Republican Party is based on or playing footsie with or has anything to do with white nationalism. I think it’s completely wrong and you do not have to do anything with it in order to be the Republican nominee. It has no place in our party. It has no place on the American political spectrum. I do think there are legitimate concerns being raised by Republicans out there about corporate endeavors and other, you know, sort of cultural push and pull that, you know, some people on the left want. Some people on the right want to go against that, so you’re going to have that kind of debate, but it’s a far cry from saying if I oppose, say, DEI, in, you know, and corporate America, I am somehow in bed with white nationalism, so I just — I don’t really accept the premise of that idea. Trump — to go back to what Brownstein said a minute ago, Ron, I think he’s exactly right. Trump on the non-college totally correct. DeSantis on college educated is correct and I would just say I have an easier time believing DeSantis can cut into the non-college than I think Trump could cut into DeSantis’ existing college educated base. That’s why I’ve always thought even in the polls that show Trump ahead right now, DeSantis has more room to grow than Trump because I’m not sure where he’ll find the extra coalition out of college educated voters.
KEILAR: Well, Scott, let me just be clear in what I’m talking about, which would be — at some time I think if you think back to McCain — right — and how he would make sure to speak up and push back on maybe something that a voter would say or he would be very vociferous and this is something you used to hear more from Republicans that if there was another Republican who was saying something that they thought was bigoted, and they didn’t think should represent the party, they would come out against it, right? I mean, but sometimes you’ll see that they don’t come out as vociferously as they used to and I wonder if when you’re looking at voters trending in that direction, if that is going to make it more difficult for Republicans to do that.
JENNINGS: Well, I will just think back on recent examples of this since you’re saying sometimes, which is a nebulous term, but the most recent example is when Donald Trump had Kanye West and that other freak over for lunch and virtually every major national Republican from every wing of the Republican Party immediately denounced it. And so, I think what you’ll find if you look into it is that when people stray off in this ridiculous direction most Republicans actually know the difference between right and wrong on this. I’m not saying Trump does necessarily because he obviously makes terrible decisions but I think at least in that most recent example where somebody was trying to include somebody that has sort of a stupid and horrific ideology, it was widely condemned by virtually every corner of the Republican Party.
RON BROWNSTEIN: Yeah —
KEILAR: Yeah — and —
BROWNSTEIN: — Brianna —
KEILAR: — sorry, Ron. Go on.
BROWNSTEIN: — can I just up in? Real quick, look, it is a continuum. There are very few Republican voters, very few Americans overall who share the precepts of outright white nationalism. But there’s no question the Republican coalition, particularly in the Trump era, is centered on the voters who are most uneasy about the way the country is changing, demographically and culturally. I mean, you see in polling up to three-quarters of Republican voters say discrimination against whites is now as big a problem as discrimination against minorities, over 70 percent say the growing number of immigrants is undermining American culture. Three-fifths to two-thirds say society is too soft and feminine and is punishing men just for acting like men. I mean, there is — that is — you know, Donald Trump in his speech in Iowa noted last night that he got louder applause talking about how classroom teaching of race, gender, and sexual orientation than he did talking about economic issues. That is where the energy in the party is now, that is what DeSantis is trying to appeal to by essentially offering Trumpism without Trump. The question remains, though, is that a national majority? I mean, the dividing lines between the parties now is not so much economic as it is how you feel about the way the country is changing. That is a fundamental fault line in our politics and it is clear the energy in the Republican Party is for candidates who express resistance to that in all sorts of ways from classroom censorship to book bans to what’s happening on LGBTQ rights in the red states.
KEILAR: Yeah. Um, Scott and Ron, thank you so much.
JENNINGS: But you can’t compare — let me just say — you — you get — I just — it’s — it is not right to compare a —
BROWNSTEIN: That’s a different thing from white nationalism.
JENNINGS: — a Republican parent who has —
BROWNSTEIN: I understand, I understand.
JENNINGS: — concerns — who has con — who has concerns about what is happening in the classroom with a white nationalist. It’s just not correct to say, well —
BROWNSTEIN: Well, it’s — it’s —
JENNINGS: — I think schools ought to have this kind of curriculum. That doesn’t make you a white nationalist to be concerned about what’s being taught —
BROWNSTEIN: — I’m not saying it.
JENNINGS: — in a school.
BROWNSTEIN: I’m — I’m not saying it does.
JENNINGS: And so, I see — you’re tying — you’re trying to link them together, but it’s not true.
KEILAR: Scott, we — I take —
BROWNSTEIN: It’s not — it’s not —
KEILAR: — your point about —
BROWNSTEIN: — it’s not the same thing but — but it’s on a continuum of concerns about the way the country is changing.
KEILAR: — Scott and Ron, thank you so much for the spirited discussion. I do really appreciate it. Certainly one that I think has to be had. It does. Thank you, gentlemen.
