Appearing as a guest on Sunday's Relable Sources on CNN, former MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams advised against Donald Trump complaining about media bias against him, and claimed that the media are not "swooning" for Hillary Clinton the way they did for Barack Obama in 2008, as he asserted that the media "really don't like her" partly because "many in the media" are "to the left of Hillary Clinton" and "don't like her from the left."
Abrams -- who used to host his own show on MSNBC -- made his comments after CNN host Brian Stelter asked if it was a "smart strategy" for Trump to attack the media. Abrams began his response:
Yeah, look, I think it was a smart strategy during the Republican primaries. I think now it doesn't make as much sense. But lets be clear. The media -- both conservative and liberal -- doesn't like Donald Trump, as a whole. It doesn't mean every individual, but let's admit that. But what's not true is that somehow they love Hillary Clinton because they really don't like her either. Why? She's not holding press conferences. There have been all of these sort of Clntonian over the years responses where people don't get direct answers, et cetera.
He then theorized that much of the media do not believe Clinton is liberal enough as he added:
And the truth is, many in the media, I think, are to the left of Hillary Clinton. And, as a result, they don't like her from the left. So there's a lot of reasons that the media also doesn't like Hillary Clinton.
The former MSNBC general manager undermined Trump's media bias complaints as he concluded:
So is Trump right that the media doesn't like him? Yeah. But are Trump supporters right that somehow the media is in love with Hillary Clinton? This is not Barack Obama circa 2008 when the media was swooning over Obama. This is a very different situation.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, August 7 Reliable Sources on CNN:
BRIAN STELTER: Do you think, you know, the commentators who were talking earlier, these pro-Trump commentators talking about media bias, that it's smart for Trump to be hammering away at media bias? You know, he's been emailing out every day to reporters various examples of what he says are media bias. Is this a smart strategy for him going forward? Because, normally, the old saying from the newspaper days, is that you don't pick fights with people that can buy ink by the barrel.
DAN ABRAMS, FORMER MSNBC GENERAL MANAGER: Yeah, look, I think it was a smart strategy during the Republican primaries. I think now it doesn't make as much sense. But lets be clear. The media -- both conservative and liberal -- doesn't like Donald Trump, as a whole.
It doesn't mean every individual, but let's admit that. But what's not true is that somehow they love Hillary Clinton because they really don't like her either. Why? She's not holding press conferences. There have been all of these sort of Clntonian over the years responses where people don't get direct answers, et cetera.
And the truth is, many in the media, I think, are to the left of Hillary Clinton. And, as a result, they don't like her from the left. So there's a lot of reasons that the media also doesn't like Hillary Clinton.
So is Trump right that the media doesn't like him? Yeah. But are Trump supporters right that somehow the media is in love with Hillary Clinton? This is not Barack Obama circa 2008 when the media was swooning over Obama. This is a very different situation.
STELTER: That's a good reality check of the media version of the favorable ratings for the candidates.
