CNN’s anti-Freedom Convoy correspondent Paula Newton was at it again Wednesday as she desperately tried to smear the peaceful Canadian protest against their COVID restrictions. In reports throughout the day, Newton suggested that they should be feared and were a threat to the country. She even suggested that their “civil disobedience” can’t be “tolerated” because “what can happen next?”
In the afternoon, on CNN Newsroom, Newton claimed things on the ground in Canada were “not in a good place” as the protest was set to enter its second week.
And after seemingly slipping up and admitting the “truckers here are not just dug in, they are getting support from every element of society here who says that they are sick and tired of the pandemic,” Newton caught herself and declared they were only “a real minority of Canadians, but they are vocal right now.”
She also chided those working-class folks by proclaiming “they are determined and it seems able to sow chaos wherever they are.”
Newton also gawked as she couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that the truckers even had support from the vaccinated who were fed up with the “insanity” (Click “expand”):
NEWTON: The thing I want to tell you here though; this isn't just about truckers. I want you to listen to people who drove here, took five hours, they're spending the week here, they say, and they're vaccinated. Listen.
[Cuts to video]
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: 100 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yup. Double dose, got my QR code --
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I even made and sold masks at the beginning of this. But, you know what, when you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result that's the definition of insanity. We are insane right now. We keep doing the same things over and over again. Nothing is changing.
[Cuts back to live]
NEWTON: And that's what they want. They want a change not just to vaccine and mask mandates, how this started with the truckers. No, they want it all gone.
As they were wrapping up that segment, host Ana Cabrera looked at the images in disgust. “[R]eminds me of a sight I would find … at a rest area seeing these truckers just hanging out, not certainly what I would expect in the heart of a major city,” she huffed.
Later in the day, on Jake Tapper’s The Lead, Newton argued that the Freedom Convoy couldn’t take credit for multiple provinces announcing they’ll be rolling back their COVID restrictions and suggested they would never be content:
It's more than Saskatchewan. It is Alberta, it’s Quebec. This is happening because the Omicron wave is peaking and these provincial leaders have always said, “Look, when we can, we will roll them back.”
Is it satisfying the truckers? Absolutely not. I mean, what’s happened here, Jake, is they are looking for so much more than that. They don't want these leaders to even return any restrictions no matter what happens with COVID.
Newton stepped on her message that the peaceful protesters should be feared by saying the gathering “looks more like a tailgate party.” She again caught herself slipping. Opining that “the fear is real,” she claimed to have spoken with people all “around Canada” who fret “if this is the kind of civil disobedience that is tolerated, they fear for what can happen next.”
“This is escalating almost by the hour,” she declared.
This is the same CNN that supported the Black Lives Matter Riots of 2020 and dubbed them “FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL.” They also didn’t have an issue with the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seattle, Washington where people were being killed.
CNN’s petty authoritarianism was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Downy and Wayfair on CNN Newsroom, and Prevagen and T-Mobile on The Lead. Their contact information is linked.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Newsroom
February 9, 2022
1:11:27 p.m. Eastern(…)
ANA CABRERA: Paula, this has been going on though for nearly two weeks, these protests. This has gotten to a new level of impact but where do things stand?
PAULA NEWTON: Not in a good place, I will tell you, Ana. Where I am right now this has been going on -- we're into week two, right, and truckers here are not just dug in, they are getting support from every element of society here who says that they are sick and tired of the pandemic, it's that pandemic fatigue.
And Ana, I want to point out this is a minority, a real minority of Canadians, but they are vocal right now and they are determined and it seems able to sow chaos wherever they are. You heard Miguel, it just takes a few cars and trucks.
I want to show you where I am now, I’m in front of Parliament Hill. This would be like being in front of Capitol Hill in Washington, and it is completely blocked off by cars and trucks. It's so absurd, Ana, that if you look over here to my right, that is the prime minister's office. Can you imagine completely blocked off now?
The thing I want to tell you here though; this isn't just about truckers. I want you to listen to people who drove here, took five hours, they're spending the week here, they say, and they're vaccinated. Listen.
[Cuts to video]
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: 100 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yup. Double dose, got my QR code --
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I even made and sold masks at the beginning of this. But, you know what, when you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result that's the definition of insanity. We are insane right now. We keep doing the same things over and over again. Nothing is changing.
[Cuts back to live]
NEWTON: And that's what they want. They want a change not just to vaccine and mask mandates, how this started with the truckers. No, they want it all gone.
And I want to point out, we were talking to Miguel about the chaos that they are now sowing at that bridge and the fact this could really affect the United States as well as Canada. And we have another border crossing. That protest between Alberta and Montana going into the I-15 has been going on as well almost as long as this protest.
I've been in touch with the mayor in that town. I've been in touch with police. There is no easy answer, Ana, especially because they want to make sure they avoid confrontation, violence.
And just to leave you with this thought. In these trucks behind here, Ana, there have been people living here, used to living out of their trucks, and have been here for almost two weeks. There are children, there are families in those trucks, Ana. I just saw them making deliveries of diapers and baby wipes. This is the other situation that police in this city say complicates the situation further. Ana.
CABRERA: As a girl who grew up out west, what I'm seeing in your live shot there, Paula, reminds me of a sight I would find going over a mountain pass at a rest area seeing these truckers just hanging out, not certainly what I would expect in the heart of a major city.
(…)
The Lead
5:30:57 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: CNN’s Paula Newton joins us now live from Ottawa. And Paula, parts of Canada are talking about rolling back their vaccine mandates. Saskatchewan, for example. Is this welcome news to these protesters? Can they take any credit for it?
NEWTON: I mean, look. It's more than Saskatchewan. It is Alberta, it’s Quebec. This is happening because the Omicron wave is peaking and these provincial leaders have always said, “Look, when we can, we will roll them back.”
Is it satisfying the truckers? Absolutely not. I mean, what’s happened here, Jake, is they are looking for so much more than that. They don't want these leaders to even return any restrictions no matter what happens with COVID.
Let me give you a little tour while we're here though, Jake. As you said, we're in front of parliament. That's parliament right there. And here it looks more like a tailgate party now going into its second week. They tell us they have no intention of moving.
What’s been incredible to me is, if you look over here, Jake, that's the prime's office. They've been parked right outside the prime minister's office now for, as I said, the better part of two weeks.
What is happening now though is that politicians are starting to get together. Seeing what they can do. And the fear that I have heard from regular everyday people. Not just in this city, Jake, but just around Canada, saying, if this is the kind of civil disobedience that is tolerated, they fear for what can happen next. And that fear is real.
Consider what happened in Toronto in the last few hours, police say on social media, they heard rumors that another protest might pop up and they had to go really seal off the provincial legislature there. This is escalating almost by the hour. Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Paula Newton, in Ottawa. Thank you so much.
