CNN host Brian Stelter really earned his ‘ridiculous figure’ moniker during Sunday’s edition of the so-called Reliable Sources, after he began his show by with a monologue asking if journalists should start questioning President Trump’s sanity and views on race. “Now, this is not a normal week so this is not a normal show,” he declared. “President Trump's actions and inactions in the wake of Charlottesville are provoking some uncomfortable conversations, mostly off the air if we're being honest.”
Stelter asserted that questions about Trump’s sanity and attitude towards race were happening in homes across the country and across everyone’s social media. He then admitted that the liberal media were asking the same questions, but not how you would expect them to be.
“These conversations are happening in news rooms and T.V. studios as well. It’s usually after the microphones are off, of after the stories been filed, after the paper has been put to bed, people’s concerns and fears and questions come out,” he claimed. “Questions that often feel out of bounds, off limits, too hot for TV.”
But Stelter was being far from honest. Although he claims that such questions were “out of bounds, off limits, and too hot for TV,” they’re not because his colleagues have been pushing them since before Trump was elected. They have even been pushed in front of Stelter on his own show several times and on CNN. He even hyped a Democrat bill that would require Trump to get a mental evaluation.
Back in February 2017, he brought on washed up reporter Carl Bernstein who claimed Trump’s thoughts were his brain tumors. “His words are an MRI of his mind. And so far that MRI is showing all kinds of masses in the brain that ought to concern not just reporters but people all over this country,” he told Stelter. And during the election, Bernstein described Trump as a “neo-fascist … sociopath.”
Bernstein had also claimed to Stelter, without citing a source, that military leaders were asking such questions about his sanity. “I think it also goes to the question that many military leaders in this questions raised by military leaders in this country now,” he smeared. “By the intelligence community. By people in Congress, about the stability of the President of the United States. This is an index of his state of mind, visually.”
And on MSNBC, Morning Joe diagnosed the President with a mental disorder while serial liar Brian Williams and his band of late-night misfits slammed Trump as a madman.
“My impression has been since President Trump's inauguration, there's been a lot of tiptoeing going on. His actions have been described as un-presidential, as unhinged, and sometimes even crazy,” Stelter himself touted during his anti-Trump rant. “That word crazy can be interpreted several different ways.” He then proceeded to run clip after clip of people questioning Trump’s sanity, including late-night comedians and liberal newspapers.
As for questions about Trump’s view of race, accusations of him being a racist date back to before he decided to run for president. The sheer quantity of reporters and commentators calling Trump and his cabinet racists is too many to count. Although, Stelter’s buddy Bernstein has done an unhealthy amount of both.
And just before Stelter wrapped up his opening diatribe, he had one more question to add to the tough ones: “Is it time for objective journalists, I don't mean opinion folks I mean down the middle journalists to address these questions head on. And if so, how in the world should they do they do that?” Clearly, he’s not being close to honest with the public given what has been exposed by the MRC.
With a serious tone and a straight face, Stelter opined about how tough such questions were to ask. “But we in the national news media can't pretend like our readers have viewers aren't already asking. They are asking,” he suggested. But if Stelter is to be believed, are they asking questions because of the President’s actions, or have they just been getting it pounded into them for over a year?
Transcript below:
CNN
Reliable Sources
August 20, 2017
11:00:38 AM EasternBRIAN STELTER: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is Reliable Sources our weekly program about the media. Now, this is not a normal week so this is not a normal show. President Trump's actions and inactions in the wake of Charlottesville are provoking some uncomfortable conversations, mostly off the air if we're being honest.
In discussions among friends and family and debates on social media, people are questioning the President's fitness. But these conversations are happening in news rooms and T.V. studios as well. It’s usually after the microphones are off, of after the stories been filed, after the paper has been put to bed, people’s concerns and fears and questions come out.
Questions that often feel out of bounds, off limits, too hot for TV. Questions like these:
Is the President of the United States a racist? Is he suffering from some kind of illness? Is he fit for office? And if he's unfit, then what?
These are upsetting polarizing questions that are uncomfortable to ask. But we in the national news media can't pretend like our readers have viewers aren't already asking. They are asking. This is how deep the country's divide has really become.
My impression has been since President Trump's inauguration, there's been a lot of tiptoeing going on. His actions have been described as un-presidential, as unhinged, and sometimes even crazy. That word crazy can be interpreted several different ways. It gets said more in private than it gets said on TV.
For instance, this sound bite was never meant to be heard on TV at all. Last month Senator Susan Collins was overheard on a hot mic saying that Trump's handling of spending was incredibly irresponsible. Democratic Senator Jack Reed responded by saying he thinks Trump is crazy.
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STELTER: This week, Republican Senator Bob Corker questioned the President's stability. Watch.
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STELTER: Now some Democrats, not surprisingly have gotten further. California Democrat Zoe Lofgren asked if Trump has early stage dementia. She says she wants a medical, mental exam conducted. Another California Dem, Jackie Spear called for Trump's removal under the 25th amendment. And Al gore said he should resign. You’re also hearing liberal corners of the news media and the entertainment world. You saw late night economics got very serious this week. Jimmy Kimmel made jokes about making Trump a powerless king but he meant what he said about getting Trump out of office.
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STELTER: Now, if you’ve picked up your Sunday paper, you’ve seen that the papers are filled for cries with change. This is the Los Angeles Times the liberal editorial board there saying: “Enough Is Enough.” Trump is, quote, “a danger to the Constitution, a threat to our democratic institutions.” Now all of his brings me back to those questions that are tough to ask out loud on national television:
Is the President of the United States suffering from some sort of illness? Is he racist? Is he fit to be commander-in-chief? And one more, is it time for objective journalists, I don't mean opinion folks I mean down the middle journalists to address these questions head on. And if so, how in the world should they do they do that?
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