At CNN, the ‘State of the Union’ is: Still Soft Toward Democrats

Jorge Bonilla
October 18th, 2026 2:50 PM

Text to Speech

00:00 00:00
Font Size

CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ provides a case study in overt media bias towards Democrats ahead of a pivotal midterm election. Contrasting interviews of Senate candidates prove yet again that the Elitist Media instinctively tilt toward Democrats.

Consider Dana Bash’s interview of Mike Rogers, which appears to have been a pursuit of a gotcha moment. Watch as Bash attempts to shame Rogers into condemning President Trump over his rhetoric regarding Abdul El-Sayed, and her constant redirections back on to Trump when Rogers brings up a series of inconvenient facts:

 

 

DANA BASH: Congressman, to I do want to move on to something else. I want to play what President Trump said about Abdul El-Sayed at a rally Friday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP: His name is actually Abdullah Sabdalullah. It's Abdullahbabababa Mohamed El-Sayed. So his middle name is Mohamed. So I was right, almost.Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He's a jihadist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The president is effectively calling your opponent a terrorist. You're a former special agent with the FBI, former Intelligence chair in the House. Are you comfortable with that?

MIKE ROGERS: Listen, I have never called him a terrorist. I wore the uniform in the United States of America, so people can pray any way they want. That is not the issue here. What has become the issue is his relationship and his family relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in five Muslim countries. You know, he wants to play the victim. This is not about that. This is about the way you think, not the way you pray. This is about your ideology and how dangerous it is. I mean, he has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which, by the way, diminishes women's role in society, just as they did when they took over in Egypt in 2012 and 2013. He supported that regime.

BASH: Congressman -- Congressman, first, I just want to go back.

ROGERS: He called for the purging of the press. He called for purging of police.

BASH: Congressman, I want to go back to what the president said.

ROGERS: As a matter of fact, if I were the press, I would start looking at this.

BASH: I want back to what the president said. And you're saying that you disagree.

ROGERS: Listen, I -- listen, I don't speak for the president. I don't represent the president. The president is going to do what he's going to do.

BASH: I know, but I want to say, do you wish that he doesn't say that? He's coming to Michigan.

ROGERS: I'm running my race right here in Michigan, Dana. I'm running my race in Michigan.

BASH: So, do you wish that he didn't call him a jihadist?

ROGERS: I know you guys want this to be about Trump. This is about Michiganders who are looking for hope and opportunity.

BASH: Right. The president isn't...

ROGERS: Two-thirds of our fourth graders can't read in the fourth grade.

BASH: Yes. The president...

ROGERS: That means you have a 70 percent chance of going to prison or being on welfare.

BASH: The president is inserting himself in that race.

ROGERS: That's what we're worried about right here in Michigan.

BASH: Yes. Yes, I understand. I have been there, and I know that is what people are worried about. The president is inserting himself in that race...

ROGERS: Yes, they sure are.

BASH: ... because pretty much, every time he talks, he says something about Abdul El-Sayed. You mentioned that he- you said that he has had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Well, he was asked specifically about whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood at a town hall last night. I want to listen to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have one simple question. Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?

ABDUL EL-SAYED: Sure. Yes, absolutely. But I want to -- I want to ask- to the question that you're asking, why are you asking the question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they're a terrorist group.

EL-SAYED: OK. No, no, but what are you implying, though? Do you assume that I wouldn't?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

EL-SAYED: Why not?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have not heard you disavow them yet.

EL-SAYED: Have you disavowed them? I haven't heard you disavow them yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I disavow them.

EL-SAYED: Do you? Great. But here's the thing about it. You're asking the question because implicitly you assume that I will have dual loyalties, right? You assume that somehow I wouldn't disavow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So he said, "Yes, sure," challenged the voter and said the voter only asked him because he's a Muslim.

ROGERS: No.

(LAUGHTER)

ROGERS: So, Hasan Piker, who really came to the state, he had him here multiple times, five different events, took him to college campuses, and this guy is full of hate and vitriol, not only for Jewish Americans, but for black Americans. You listen to his comments; this guy is as vile as they come. He has said he was excited about his answer because he did not disavow the Muslim Brother -- he didn't disavow it. He goes on this word salad trying to get around the fact that he can't do it.

BASH: He said -- he did -- he did say -- he said, "Sure, yes."

ROGERS: No, that's not true. Dana, listen...

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: I don't want to debate with you.

ROGERS: I don't know why the press is so eager for him -- to protect this guy.

BASH: Congressman, I just want to be factual.

ROGERS: And it is. It's an ideology.

BASH: I want to be factual. He said, "Yes, sure."

ROGERS: My argument is, is that ideology something we should worry about? I think it is.

BASH: Why?

ROGERS: It's an ideology. It's not about him being a Muslim. It -- matter of fact, Muslims here in the state call our office a lot and say, we're terrified that a guy with this ideology goes to the United States Senate. I mean, that's -- these are coming from Muslims in Michigan, let alone the five countries that banned the Muslim Mother -- Brotherhood. He can't get away from it. His money comes from a group called CAIR...

BASH: Yes.

ROGERS: ... the Council on American-Islamic Relations, that supports the Muslim Brotherhood, right?He has money coming from these groups. And if you listen to that, that's not a -- he didn't disavow it. He didn't say no. He didn't say it worries me that they treat women differently under the Muslim Brotherhood's view of Sharia law. He didn't say any of that. He didn't because he won't and he can't. Matter of fact, it's the only thing he hasn't changed his opinion on in this election. 

Bash jumps in once she realized that Rogers refused her bait and instead went in on El-Sayed’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. So focused was Bash on trying to pit Rogers against Trump on El-Sayed that she interrupted and attempted to redirect back to Trump TEN times. 

The entire interview proceeded in this manner, with Bash doing the same on the war between Russia and Ukraine, oil prices, Iran, and Rogers’ inroads within Michigan’s black community  vis-a-vis former President Barack Obama’s upcoming campaign stop. At each point, Bash tried to insert narrative and Rogers calmly but firmly batted her away.

This stands in stark contrast with Bash’s interview of Maine Democrat Senate nominee Troy Jackson, who you’ll recall replaced Herr Oystergruppenführer Graham Platner on the ticket. Whereas the Rogers interview was full of interruptions and adverse framing, the Jackson interview was one huge softball. Time and time again, Jackson was allowed to elaborate on the state of the race, on his policy preferences, or whatever else was on his mind.

When Bash interrupted him, it was only as a last resort and in the face of a terrible gaffe. Watch as Bash has to educate Jackson on the prewar realities of the role of Iran relative to oil prices:

 

 

BASH: You talked about home heating oil, which is incredibly high here in Maine. You said that we should just get out of Iran as quickly as possible. How would that work? Would you be OK with just pulling out of Iran? And what would that mean for the Strait of Hormuz, which is still or would be certainly controlled by Iran if that happened, which would continue to keep the oil prices high?

TROY JACKSON: Well, Iran controlled it before and the oil prices weren't anywhere near...

BASH: They didn't. It was open.

JACKSON: Well...

BASH: Before the Iran war? No, it wasn't. It was open.

JACKSON: Well, Iran had the ability to do what they did before we started bombing them, and things were fine. I'm sure that if we move out of Iran, things will stabilize and prices will probably go down. I mean, the...

BASH: You think, if the United States just leaves, Iran will say, OK, fine, we're going to pull out of the Strait of Hormuz?

JACKSON: Well, it's a lot better than what we're doing right now. And I definitely think that we need to make sure that we protect our troops getting out of there in a manner that they're safe. But, yes, I do. I think we need to get out of that war, and hopefully prices will stabilize. I mean, they rose because we got into it.

BASH: I mean, the situation is challenging, no question about it.

JACKSON: Well, it wasn't before -- it wasn't before Donald Trump got us into that, Dana.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: It wasn't. It wasn't. But now we are where we are. And there are blockades and other ways that the U.S. being there is at least letting some ships through. And if the U.S. leaves, why would Iran just pull up stakes and say, OK, fine, we can just we will leave it open?

JACKSON: I'm sure we can negotiate something that has us leave the Strait of Hormuz without losing any more ships, going back to a situation where we used to be. I mean, President Obama negotiated a deal where we weren't -- they weren't enriching uranium. We didn't have these issues. Donald Trump tore it up, and now we're in the mess that we're in because he wanted to play war games. I'm sure there's a way that we could negotiate with them to get back some semblance of what it was before this and get oil prices stabilized. 

Bash had to pause her enabling of Jackson in order to correct him on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s prewar influence on oil prices. Jackson’s final answer entailed a unilateral U.S. pullout from the Middle East, which Iran also wants, to no further followup from Bash.

Bash then proceeded to question Jackson on his saying “shut up” to Collins during a recent debate:

 

 

BASH: This week, there was a protester in the debate that you had with Susan Collins. She responded by saying "This must be a Troy Jackson supporter," and you told the senator, "Shut up."Do you regret saying that?

JACKSON: No, she said that it was a Troy supporter. I mean, she accused me of setting that up. I had no idea who it was. I mean, I was surprised whenever he jumped up out of there. I have had four debates with Senator Collins. I have shook her hand afterwards every time. But what I'm not going to be is talked down to by Senator Collins. I'm not going to be accused of things like that. I mean, I'm fighting for Mainers. And, I mean, I just think that was another situation where she was talking down to me. And so I'm not -- I'm not going to apologize for that now.

BASH: Some Republicans are saying that there were stories when you were in the (Maine) Legislature of women who were there who said that you were -- I don't know about talking down to them, but you were sort of aggressive in your tone, and that this is another example of that.

JACKSON: Some Republicans have been spending millions of dollars attacking me and my family, making untrue claims, things that they had to take off the air. And so it doesn't surprise me that some Republicans wouldn't be making any claims.

BASH: So, again, the "Shut up" thing, you're going to leave it as is, no apologies? 

JACKSON: Yeah.

There was no further follow-up from Bash. Imagine how many passes Bash would’ve taken had it been a Republican facing misogyny allegations and telling a Democrat opponent to shut up on the podium. We’d have “War on Women” all over again. In this case, though, Bash meekly takes Jackson’s response at face value and moves on. 

It would have been interesting to discover what Jackson considered “talking down”, or the substance of the allegations Jackson said were untrue. When addressing nonspecific lies about his family, an enterprising reporter might have explored whether Jackson was talking about his cousinly relations. 

Contrast this pathetic softball with the aggressive interview given to Mike Rogers, and any lingering doubts about the media’s hyper partisanship should evaporate once and for all.

Donor Privacy Policy