CNN appears to have quite an affinity for covering political family feuds. Earlier this year, it gave White House adviser Stephen Miller’s uncle a platform to trash his nephew for his position on immigration plus how the son of retiring GOP Congressman Bob Goodlatte endorsed the Democrat in the race to succeed his father. All told, it's unsurprising that Monday’s New Day gave a platform to David Gosar, one of the nine siblings of Republican Congressman Paul Gosar, six of whom appeared in an ad endorsing Gosar’s Democratic opponent, to trash his brother.
Co-host John Berman opened by dubbing the ad “unusual,” apparently forgetting about the interview six weeks before this with Miller’s uncle. After mentioning that he invited Congressman Gosar on the show but did not hear back from his office.
Eventually, Berman read aloud a tweet from Congressman Gosar responding to his siblings’ participation in the ad: “My siblings, who chose to film ads against me, are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump. These disgruntled Hillary supporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud.”
After describing the Stalin reference as an “ad hominem attack,” Berman asked GosarL “Do you guys hate President Trump, as your brother claims?”
Rather than answer Berman, Gosar claimed that his brother “doesn’t appear to be well,” citing his body language at the Stzrok hearing as well as his “petulant, childish response” proclaiming that he is their mother’s favorite because she, unlike the majority of her children, is conservative.
Berman asked Gosar to elaborate on what he meant by that and he responded: “If you watch him and how he conducts himself, he appears to be in a very hostile manner all the time. He talks down to people. He says bizarre things like that. I mean, if you interview him, you know, you’ll be hard pressed to get a real coherent sentence out of him.”
The interview concluded with Berman asking Gosar if any of the Congressman's siblings live in Arizona. Gosar responded that none of them lived in Arizona and accused his brother of acting “pretty hypocritical” for trying to “make a point out of that” because he lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, “which is outside the district.”
While plenty of family feuds exist between conservatives and liberal politicians, don’t expect the media to give these family feuds the same kind of hype as the ones involving liberals and their conservative politician relatives.
The media’s non-coverage of Malik Obama and his support for President Trump illustrated the notion that the media are far more interested in feuds when they make non-liberals look bad.
A transcript of the relevant portion of New Day is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CNN New Day
09/24/18
08:33 AM
JOHN BERMAN: It will be an interesting Thanksgiving this year for Arizona Republican Congressman Paul Gosar. He is embroiled in a high-profile family feud. Six of his nine siblings appear in a campaign ad supporting his Democratic opponent. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GOSAR: None of this is pleasant for any of us.
JENNIFER GOSAR: It’s horrible to have to do this.
JOAN GOSAR: To speak up against my brother, it brings sadness to me.
TIM GOSAR: My name is Tim Gosar.
JENNIFER GOSAR: My name is Jennifer Gosar.
GASTON GOSAR: Gaston Gosar.
JOAN GOSAR: Joan Gosar.
GRACE GOSAR: Grace Gosar.
DAVID GOSAR: David Gosar.
JENNIFER GOSAR: Paul Gosar is my brother.
TIM GOSAR: My brother.
GRACE GOSAR: My brother.
JOAN GOSAR: And I endorse Dr. Brill.
GASTON GOSAR: Dr. Brill.
DAVID GOSAR: Dr. Brill.
TIM GOSAR: And I wholeheartedly endorse Dr. David Brill for Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now, Congressman Gosar responded writing, “you can’t pick your family. We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different. I hope they find peace in their hearts and let go all the hate. To the six angry Democrat Gosars -- see you at Mom and Dad’s house!” Joining us now is one of the Congressman’s brothers featured in the ad, David Gosar. David, thanks so much for being with us. I should note, we invited the Congressman to come on and we did not hear back from his office. Talk to me about why you decided…you and your siblings decided to come forward. This is unusual.
DAVID GOSAR: Well, first, John, thanks for having me on today. Let me back up and give you the short history. He’s been a Congressman for eight years now. For seven of those years, we kept our peace, said nothing. Late last year, on Vice News…well, you know, during the interim, you know, those seven years, you know, he was taking actions and casting votes that were…that, you know, impacted our lives, you know, in regards to health care. Some members of the family, you know, his votes against health care would have ended with them losing their health care or being unable to afford it. He took other votes and other actions that impacted values that…and interests that affected their children as well. So, despite all that, we kept our peace out of deference to his family and our parents. But when he appeared on Vice News and unnecessarily slandered George Soros…we don’t know George Soros. We have no allegiance to George Soros. But you don’t do that. That’s a matter of right and wrong. He accused the guy or suggested that he was a Nazi collaborator when he was a 14-year-old boy and that he was also possibly behind the Charlottesville Nazi march, which ended in the tragic death of a young woman and other injuries to other people. And that’s just a right and wrong matter. And at that point in time, we felt we had to speak out and so we did. And we wrote a letter. And I also appeared on Vice News and I opposed that action. And we called on him to apologize, which he never did. Well, I, since that time, have been on Twitter responding to him and, you know, challenging him and what he does, which I think is appalling. And the Brill campaign saw that, they reached out to me. Initially, there wasn’t any thought of doing these commercials, but they came up with that idea and we decided to join in on that.
BERMAN: Right. Do you talk to your brother at all anymore?
GOSAR: No, I don’t.
BERMAN: When was the last time you had contact with him?
GOSAR: It would be maybe a couple years ago at his daughter’s wedding, very briefly.
BERMAN: And, again, the family stuff, what do your parents think about this?
GOSAR: Well, you know, I think you can see from The New York Times piece that my mom is conservative, my dad is conservative. And I haven’t spoken to them about this. And I don’t intend to. Those conversations, political conversations, like that in our family don’t end well. So…
BERMAN: Right. Well, but now they’re out in the public.
GOSAR: And I’m not going there.
BERMAN: Now they’re very much out in the public for all the world to see. And let me just read one more thing that your brother, the Congressman, said. He said, “my siblings, who chose to film ads against me, are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump. These disgruntled Hillary supporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud.” Now, the Stalin statement at the end there is just an ad hominem attack. But you guys…do you hate President Trump, as your brother claims?
GOSAR: Well, let me add another thing he also put out there was, I guess this means I’m mom’s favorite. Now this is…this is a…he’s…in a month, he’s going to be a 60-year-old Congressman. And, you know, that’s a kind of petulant, childish response that he offers, you know, which is right in line with the comment to Mr. Strzok at the hearing, I’m a dentist and I read body language very, very well. He doesn’t appear to be well. He appears to be getting more and more extreme. I…
BERMAN: When you say he doesn’t appear to be well, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by that, he doesn’t appear to be well?
GOSAR: Well, if…if you…if you watch him and how he conducts himself, he appears to be in a very hostile manner all the time. He talks down to people. He says bizarre things like that. I mean, if you interview him, you know, you’ll be hard pressed to get a real coherent sentence out of him. And if you look at that Vice News piece…
BERMAN: David, let me…let me just make clear also…
GOSAR: Go ahead.
BERMAN: The siblings, the group of you that did appear in the ad, is he correct that you all are Democrats?
GOSAR: No, I’m not a Democrat.
BERMAN: You are…
GOSAR: And I don’t know who among those are Democrats, registered. I…there’s… there's a few, I’m sure, but I don’t know who they are.
BERMAN: Your ten children…to be clear, there’s ten of you, correct? So it’s a big family?
GOSAR: Yes.
BERMAN: Okay. And none of you who appeared in the ad live in Arizona, where he is a Congressman?
GOSAR: No, we don’t. And so I know…I…you know, I understand where your question’s going. Well, he votes on issues that affect everybody nationwide, does he not? And in addition, you know, we’re able to have an impact on him. As you can see, I’m interviewing with you here today. If I were to criticize another Congressman I’m not related to, no one’s going to hear our voice, speaking out against what I think is this extreme behavior by him and other members of his party. So there’s that. And in addition, you know, you may not know this, but Paul doesn’t even reside in the district that he represents. He never did. He never intended to. He owns a house in Flagstaff, Arizona, which is outside the district. So for him to, you know, make a point of that is pretty hypocritical.
BERMAN: David Gosar, thank you for coming on and sharing your story. We appreciate you being with us and wish you the best, sir.
