Meet The Press Frets Russian Interference, Skips Hunter Laptop Suppression

January 1st, 2023 1:57 PM

NBC’s Meet the Press was off to a bad start on their first program of the new year when moderator Chuck Todd went the entire hour on Sunday without mentioning Twitter’s suppression of Hunter Biden’s laptop during the 2020 presidential election, and in so doing rigged the election in favor of Joe Biden, as the Media Research Center has proven. Despite this omission during their hour-long program dedicated to the role of social media in our government and society, guest Jeh Johnson whined about the Russians using social media to “invade our American conversation.” 

Todd started by turning to Johnson to ask about what he did when he was the Homeland Security Secretary under the Obama administration to deal with so-called “misinformation.” “How did you tackle it then? And, looking back, how would you be tackling it now?” Todd asked Johnson. 

“The trojan horse was the extent to which the Russian government invaded our American conversation, and it spelled out in the Mueller indictment,” Johnson whined. 

 

 

“But this is an issue that we've really yet to get our arms around because it does implicate free speech,” he added. 

Yet Johnson apparently has no problem with Twitter suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 presidential election. That had a much larger impact than anything Russian bots did in 2016. 

Later on in the program, Johnson touted how “if you put into your phone a well-known right-wing commentator and the words ‘great replacement’ you get a site from the Anti-Defamation League arguing that he should be de-platformed.” 

Predictably, Todd wasn’t horrified by that kind of Orwellian censorship. He instead replied that it is “an interesting way you can come to that.” 

Clearly, Todd's new year's resolution isn't to stop being a leftist hack and act like a journalist in 2023. New year, same Chuck Todd. 

This segment on NBC’s Meet the Press was made possible by Angi. Their information is linked so you can let them know about the biased programming they fund. 

To read the relevant transcript click “expand”: 

NBC’s Meet the Press
1/1/2023
11:17:30 a.m. Eastern

CHUCK TODD: Jeh, when you were at Homeland Security, you were just beginning to deal with this misinformation issue. How did you tackle it then? And, looking back, how would you be tackling it now? 

JEH JOHNSON: Looking back at the 2016 election, and I should mention that as a lawyer, I have clients. 

TODD: Yes. You work for a firm that does, Paul, Weiss, that does represent some of these social-media companies we're talking about. 

JOHNSON: Made that disclosure. 

TODD: Yes. 

JOHNSON: This was the trojan horse of 2016. 2016, I, as Secretary of Homeland Security, was very focused on potential cyberattacks on election infrastructure. And just before I left office, I declared election infrastructure to be critical infrastructure. We were worried about, you know, ballot counting, reporting, and so forth. Turned out that was not the issue. Hasn't been the issue. Wasn't the issue in 2020. Wasn't the issue in 2022. The trojan horse was the extent to which the Russian government invaded our American conversation, and it spelled out in the Mueller indictment. But this is an issue that we've really yet to get our arms around because it does implicate free speech. 

[...]

11:23:21 a.m. Eastern

JOHNSON: You asked Frances, should the government approve algorithms. As I think that comes perilously close to regulating speech. 

TODD: Yeah. 

JOHNSON: Very interesting exercise—if you put into your phone a well-known right-wing commentator and the words "great replacement" you get a site from the anti-defamation League arguing that he should be de-platformed. So—

TODD: An interesting way you can come to that.