One of the ways that taxpayer-funded NPR and PBS shows abuse their involuntary conservative funders is by pretending people who earnestly back Joe Biden over Donald Trump can still be defined somehow as "conservative." You can be an anti-Trump conservative, but you can't be a Vote-for-Biden conservative.
On Monday's Morning Edition, NPR anchor Michel Martin harped twice on the fake news that pro-Biden pundit Bill Kristol is still a "conservative." Martin explained "Democrats hope there are enough disaffected Republicans out there to give President Biden a boost." After airing a free snippet of a Biden ad with audio of Trump attacking Nikki Haley as "Birdbrain," Martin introduced the interview this way:
But is that message getting through? We're going to ask conservative writer and editor Bill Kristol about this. He previously served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, both Republicans. Good morning, Mr. Kristol.
Martin repeated the falsehood at the end:
Okay. That is conservative writer, former Republican Bill Kristol, who served in the George H.W. Bush and Reagan administrations. Mr. Kristol, thanks so much for joining us.
Make that three labels if you count the online summary: "Democrats are trying to win over Republican voters reluctant to vote for former President Donald Trump in 2024. Conservative writer Bill Kristol joins the program to see if the effort will resonate."
But this notion fell apart in the actual interview:
MARTIN: And here's where I put you on the spot. As a person who has made your distaste for the former president clear, for many, many, many reasons, are you going to vote for Joe Biden?
KRISTOL: Oh, yeah, I am. I did last time, and I did some work for him, and I'll do that again this time. But the key is the former Trump supporters, I think, and Trump administration members who you mentioned, getting them out there. Look, I've been against Trump since 2015. I don't have that much credibility, perhaps, with those swing voters anymore. But I think the people who do are people who said, I voted for Trump twice, or, I worked for Trump, and I saw him up close, and that's where Mike Pence and Mark Esper and people like that are so important.
MARTIN: And before we let you go, do you still consider yourself a Republican?
KRISTOL: No, not really. An ex-Republican.
Kristol hopes Mike Pence or Mark Esper can seal the deal with those Nikki Haley voters, like Mike Pence would back Biden? PBS also recently tried to brand Kristol as a Republican on the March 14 Amanpour & Co. show:
ISAACSON: You are among the Republicans who've led the resistance to Donald Trump. Now, that he's apparently the nominee, there's no stopping him, what are you going to do?
KRISTOL: I mean, I've been an ex-Republican, honestly, for a while…
We can guess that the very minute a Democrat comes out against voting for Biden, no one on NPR or PBS would describe them as a "Democrat" or a "progressive."
