CNN New Day co-host Alisyn Camerota reported from Parkland, Florida Wednesday morning, where she showered student survivors of the recent school shooting who have become gun control activists with fawning coverage.
The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School returned to classes two weeks to the day after a crazed former student opened fire at the school, killing 17 and forever changing the lives of many more. The media and the left have exploited this tragedy as an opportunity to renew their calls for gun control, acting as if that alone would have prevented the tragedy from happening. Local law enforcement and the FBI face a fair share of the blame as well for repeatedly ignoring complaints and red flags about the shooter.
Twenty minutes before the school reopened, Camerota basically delivered an op-ed, saying, “Some of the survivors have become, as we know, these influential voices, right? These activated voices. These teenagers didn’t think that they were going to turn into a movement but they have turned into a movement and they have ignited this entire national conversation about gun violence and gun control and what they want to see happen.”
Camerota is hardly an outlier when it comes to journalists praising the gun control advocates. MSNBC host Chris Matthews has dubbed the Parkland Activists “the new Cronkites”, referring to them as “the most trusted people in America.” While today’s media overlords reference Cronkite as a model of objective journalism, they neglect to mention that he used his platform to openly root for the end of the “pointless” Vietnam War. Matthews unintentionally admitted that Cronkite had turned into an activist by referencing the “half-century anniversary of Cronkite’s commentary.” The choice to use the word “commentary” as opposed to “reporting” says it all.
Camerota then brought on David Hogg, a Douglas High School senior who has become the new face of the gun control movement. Hogg has used his platform over the past two weeks to trash the NRA and Republicans, his appearance on New Day Wednesday was no different. He immediately ripped into the Republicans and their idea of arming teachers, saying “they want to sell more guns, they want to work on behalf of the people that own them, which is the NRA, multiple different special interest groups. They want to sell more guns, they want to scare more people, get more guns sold so they can get re-elected. They want to scare the people and we don’t want to see that happen.”
Hogg later referred to Senator Marco Rubio, Governor Rick Scott and President Trump as “cowards” and asked them to “stand up to the NRA and say you don’t own me anymore and they rip off their shock collar.” He then compared the politicians to “really stupid sharks that think that they have power but honestly don’t.” His comparison might more accurately describe the blowhards in the media.
President Obama's Former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once said "Never let a crisis go to waste." The media has followed his playbook to a T throughout their coverage of the Parkland shooting. They very much appreciate the help of high school students as they work towards their ultimate goal: disarming the American population.
CNN New Day
02/28/18
07:17 AM
ALISYN CAMEROTA: So listen, in the two weeks since the tragic shooting in Parkland, some of the survivors have become, as we know, these influential voices, right? These activated voices. These teenagers didn’t think that they were going to turn into a movement but they have turned into a movement and they have ignited this entire national conversation about gun violence and gun control and what they want to see happen. As we watch these kids go back into the school right now, these are live pictures that you’re looking at, and they’re being handed some white roses that you can see as they get closer. Some of them are wearing white ribbons. And some of them are wearing MSD strong t-shirts. And that’s the message that we’ve heard from so many kids that are wearing their, you know, maroon and white school colors and they’re just all sort of showing their strength and their solidarity in coming back together. So, I mean, obviously, the question is what happens now that they return to class and what happens, what happens with their, their movement? So, we are joined by two of the shooting survivors and now gun control advocates. We have David Hogg and his sister Lauren Hogg. Great to see you guys. Nice to meet you, Lauren. Thank you for being here. David, you were the first student that we talked to in the hours after this massacre and everybody remembers it because you sort of gripped the nation’s attention because you were so clear-headed already, even in the hours after the trauma. So what have these two weeks been like for you since then?
DAVID HOGG: Extremely frustrating and annoying to see Speaker Paul Ryan and multiple others not take any action. Paul Ryan wants to see more teachers be armed at our schools, along with the Republican Party. They want to sell more guns, they want to work on behalf of the people that own them, which is the NRA, multiple different special interest groups. They want to sell more guns, they want to scare more people, get more guns sold so they can get re-elected. They want to scare the people and we don’t want to see that happen. The thing that makes me the most mad is, even after two weeks, even after two weeks of all of this, not a single bill has been passed at the state or Federal level. None of our glass is being replaced with bullet-proof glass. None of our locks are being able to are being, none of our locks that are being replaced are able to be locked from the inside. No legislative action has been taken. All we have now is more guns and more chances for things to go wrong. I mean, think about it this way. What about for a student that me, like me, that’s going to be at school today. What if I was misidentified as another school shooter? What if somebody, what if there was a blue on blue situation where there was an undercover police officer in there and we had a scenario where one of them started going off and because they saw a school shooter and as such, they started shooting at each other and just slaughtered everybody in sight. The only thing that’s changed is we have more guns and more chances for things to go wrong.
CAMEROTA: Okay so what I hear you saying is that there are all sorts of scenarios that because you have lived through this, you have now had to contemplate. There are all sorts of frightening scenarios that you’re thinking and playing out in your head as you go into school. And so how are you getting the strength to go in there today?
HOGG: I have to because our politicians are cowards and they won’t. They won’t gather the strength even to stand up to the, to the NRA like Marco Rubio, Rick Scott or Donald Trump. Where they won’t stand up to the NRA and say you don’t own me anymore and they rip off their shock collar. At this point, our politicians are like really stupid sharks that think that they have power but honestly don’t.
CAMEROTA: But now all of that said, your state legislature does appear to be doing some things. The, as you know, there’s been proposals. They do appear to be moving forward with some plans of raging, raising the age limit and, as you know, they also are considering training teachers.
HOGG: And that’s just a compromise that the GOP...it’s politics as I’ve said in the beginning...
CAMEROTA: Why? What do you want to see? What did you, what would be action to you?
HOGG: Raising the Federal age of gun ownership and possession to the age of 21, banning all bump stocks, making sure that mentally, that we have a universal background check, making sure that people that have committed acts of domestic violence are no longer able to get a gun, which in Florida, it’s harder. It’s just not impossible fully yet. And making sure that people with a criminal history and a history of mental illness are not able to obtain these weapons of mass destruction.
CAMEROTA: Isn’t your state legislature doing all that?
HOGG: That’s why I’m here today. That’s why I’m working. I think that they should have been doing this way before. I think the fact that I had to threaten the entire state of Florida’s economy to get some action is a testament to how disgusting the state of politics has become.
CAMEROTA: But now, do you see action?
HOGG: Some. I see some action and that gives me some hope. But at this point, seeing everything that’s going on is giving me hope and that’s why I’m here today. If that bill was not on, like, the House floor, for example, at the Florida state level, I wouldn’t be here today because I wouldn’t feel safe coming to school and honestly, I still don’t. As I said, we don’t have any bullet-proof glass. We just have more guns.
CAMEROTA: Lauren, how are you feeling?
LAUREN HOGG: It’s kind of undescribable at this moment. Like, it’s just surreal. Like, to be quite frank with you, I’m just scared at this point.
CAMEROTA: What are you afraid of?
LAUREN HOGG: Just going back into my classes and seeing empty chairs where my friends once sat and not being able to talk to them before class. And I’m just so scared at this moment.
CAMEROTA: Are you a freshman?
LAUREN HOGG: Yes I am.
CAMEROTA: And so in your freshman year, you’ve had to endure this, you know, unthinkable tragedy that even all of us adults can’t really even imagine and so how have you prepared for this day?
LAUREN HOGG: I just, all I can do is, I’ve been thinking about what I want to have done. I’ve been thinking about my friends, that’s where, really where I’m getting all my strength, thinking about my friends that have surrounded me with support and all the victims that I just know there’s a reason why I made it out that day and that reason has to be to make change.
CAMEROTA: And what do you want to see happen?
LAUREN HOGG: Exactly what David said. I want stricter gun control. But I’m saying, I’m a firm supporter of the Second Amendment. I just don’t think people should have access to guns like the AR-15, of that caliber because what are, what good are they for?
DAVID HOGG: And the other thing that I want to point out here is the legislation that I was talking about earlier, Rick Scott is trying to implement it a year later so that he can have that happen right around his election. We can’t let that happen. He’s trying to take Bill Nelson’s seat. We cannot let that happen. That’s why he’s putting this stuff into place later. I know that he’s saying that it takes time. It doesn’t. He’s governor. We saw his response to Hurricane Irma and we know that we can get these things done quickly. He just cares more about his political agenda.
CAMEROTA: David, Lauren, thank you both very much. We know what these two weeks have been like for you. We appreciate you coming and sharing all of your very strong thoughts. Obviously, we will be following everything that you both do. Best of luck when you go in there today.
