MS NOW: 'I Don’t Know GOP Voters,' CNN Analyzes GOP With ZERO Republicans

On Sunday evening's The Weekend: Primetime on MS NOW, Ayman Mohyeldin offered this moment of rare candor while discussing Sen. Bill Cassidy’s primary loss:

“I think the problem that a lot of people had with Cassidy — and again, I can’t really speak for Republican voters, I don’t know them very well — but just from hearing the commentary about them…”

On Monday's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish turned that ignorance into a full segment on the state of the GOP in light of the defeat of incumbent Republican Senator Bill Cassidy in the Louisiana primary — with zero Republicans on the panel.

Instead, she assembled three analysts — Sarah Fischer (CNN senior media analyst / Axios), Nia-Malika Henderson (CNN senior political analyst / Bloomberg), and Seung Min Kim (CNN political analyst / AP) — all with impeccable liberal-media credentials.

Fischer’s contribution was pure gobbledygook: the coming midterms "foreshadowed" the current situation. So, something that hasn't happened yet is a harbinger of the present? She predicted: "The Trumpiest candidates are going to continue to prevail, and then in other cases, they're going to continue to completely fall flat." So, the Trumpy candidates will triumph -- unless they get trounced. Got it!

That was the kind of "analysis" that cried out for an actual Republican to explain what’s happening inside the party.

So naturally, Cornish played a clip of renowned Republican strategist...Pete Buttigieg. He began by patronizingly describing Cassidy as "normal and honest." Gee, thanks, Mayor Pete! 

He went on to claim that the situation within the GOP "does create a big opening for Democrats." Whatever.

Cornish entirely excluded any real GOP voices -- like someone who would say Cassidy lost in part because he voted to impeach President Trump over January 6 in a symbolic move, since it occurred after Trump was already out of office. 

The liberal media are the blind men and the elephant — the Republican elephant. Media that openly admits it doesn’t know Republican voters… then deliberately excludes them from the conversation.

The pattern is clear: too much anthropology from afar, not nearly enough real Republicans in the room. It's not like this show doesn't know where to find conservative analysts. 

Here are the transcripts.

MS NOW
The Weekend: Primetime
5/17/26
6:01 pm EDT

AYMAN MOHYELDIN: So a lot to unpack in what has played out in Louisiana, but I thought an interesting place to start was that comment that we just heard from Senator Cassidy, because to some extent, that kind of commentary is what you would have wanted to see from Cassidy over the last couple of months, and certainly from the last couple of years.

I think the problem that a lot of people had with Cassidy — and again, I can't really speak for Republican voters, I don't know them very well — but just from hearing the commentary about them, is that Cassidy had the courage to vote to impeach Donald Trump on January the sixth or related to January the sixth, but since then has spent most of his time trying to suck up to the president, trying to warm up to the president, and at one point—

CNN This Morning
5/18/26
6:01 am EDT

AUDIE CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we begin in Louisiana, of course, with the downfall of Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. He is the first Republican senator to lose a primary in nearly a decade.

Cassidy voted to convict Trump for impeachment, and Trump doesn't forget. Cassidy didn't mention the president in his concession speech, but he did give a veiled jab on the way out the door.

BILL CASSIDY: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution. If someone doesn't understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they're about serving themselves. They're not about serving us. And that person isn't qualified to be a leader.

CORNISH: Okay. The president already turning his eye to his next rival, Thomas Massie, posting early Sunday morning urging voters in Kentucky to quote, “Get this loser out of politics in Tuesday's election.” Massie is confident it won’t work there.

THOMAS MASSIE: I'm the one they haven't been able to bully, so they're putting all the brunt, the force on me. But you can tell that I'm ahead in the polls, and they're desperate.

CORNISH: Alright, so we're gonna bring in some folks who know in our group chat. Sarah Fischer, CNN senior media analyst, senior media reporter at Axios, Nia Malika Henderson, CNN senior political analyst, Bloomberg political and policy columnist, and Sungmin Kim, CNN political analyst, White House reporter with the Associated Press.

. . . 

CORNISH: I wanna say, the weird thing about this story is, I thought this purge had already happened. You know what I mean? The congressional reporter in me is like, “This is a ten-year-old story.” What’s different about this moment?

SARA FISCHER: I think the midterms sort of foreshadowed some of what we're seeing here, which is how polarized this is. Either Donald Trump loses overwhelmingly, or the Republican Party loses overwhelmingly as Democrats continue to expand their tent. We saw that with Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, or it's the complete opposite, and the Trumpiest candidate wins.

And what we're seeing now heading into the midterms is that polarity, I think, is still going to exist. The Trumpiest candidates are going to continue to prevail, and then in other cases, they're going to continue to completely fall flat. This is why I'm continually watching redistricting, 'cause I think that's going to have a major impact on how this polarity plays out.

CORNISH: Nia, I wanna play for you Pete Buttigieg, former Transportation Secretary. He is looking at this moment as an opportunity for Democrats. Here's how he makes the case.

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Senator Cassidy is a normal, honest, and very conservative Republican, and it turns out people like that have less and less of a home in Donald Trump's Republican Party. We are seeing more and more extreme candidates put forward in their House and Senate races, which does create a big opening for Democrats.