On Friday's CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello, host Costello devoted a four-minute segment to a pair of liberal women who are hoping to get 200,000 women to march in D.C. on Donald Trump's first day in office as President Even though the group is obviously left-wing, not only were there no ideological labels used to describe their views, but they were even allowed to promote themselves as if they were non-partisan as the CNN host introduced them as not belonging "to any political group," and one guest boasted that "we don't belong to any political groups, we have no loyalties to any political groups, that we are able to show what ordinary Americans are capable of doing. This is going to be from the grassroots up."
Oddly, Costello did not inform her audience that both her guests -- Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez -- are anything but mere average Americans who are involved in helping to organize the march. Sarsour is a well-known liberal political activist who has been involved in several political advocacy groups and was even honored by President Barack Obama. And Perez is an actress and singer who only vaguely noted that she works for far-left singer Harry Belafonte. The closest CNN came to informing viewers of their history of political activism was from several points when the bottom of the screen for a short time credited Sarsour as "co-founder" of MPowerChange.org and Perez as "executive director" of the Gathering for Justice. A Google search reveals they are both groups committed to left-wing advocacy.
Sarsour has also been a recurring guest on both MSNBC and CNN, with several appearances on each network over the past year. Last April, CNN hosts Don Lemon and Brooke Baldwin were upfront in identifying her partisan leanings as the "co-founder of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York" and a "Bernie Sanders supporter" as she made a couple of guest appearances before the New York primary.
But on Friday's CNN Newsroom, host Costello touted the organizers' alleged non-partisan credentials at the beginning of the segment:
The day after President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, hundreds of thousands of women will take D.C. by storm. They have one mission in mind -- send a bold message to our government on Mr. Trump's first day in office -- 200,000 women are expected to attend. Joining me now are the co-chairs of the Women's March on Washington -- Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez. Welcome to both of you. So you guys don't belong to any political group, yet 200,000 women. How did you do that?
Even as they spoke of the movement being "grassroots," they talked up getting liberal celebrities like Belafonte, Gloria Steinem and America Ferrera involved.
Sarsour soon claimed: "This is a grassroots effort, and because we don't belong to any political groups, we have no loyalties to any political groups, that we are able to show what ordinary Americans are capable of doing. This is going to be from the grassroots up." But, a bit later, she clearly touted left-wing political causes as being associated with the protest:
We are intersectional human beings. We are impacted by so many issues, including reproductive rights, but also issues of immigration, of racial justice, religious freedom issues, so we are going to be out there with a broad spectrum of people from climate justice to reproductive rights to women's rights to immigration to Native issues, and saying, "We're here, we're watching you, we're ready to fight back, and this is what happens when ordinary people are going to stand up and say we're coming to you to Washington on your first day."
After host Costello pushed back lightly that Trump had appointed several women to his cabinet, the liberal activist dismissively responded:
And putting women is one thing. The idea that women are so shallow that we cared when we see other women. Women doesn't mean that you stand for my issues. So if you're appointing women, but you're telling me that you're going to defund Planned Parenthood, I don't want to hear that. So I think that he needs to understand that women are a lot more sophisticated, we're a lot more intelligent than he thinks we are.
Below is a transcript of the segment from the Friday, January 6, CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello:
10:49 a.m. ET
CAROL COSTELLO: The day after President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, hundreds of thousands of women will take D.C. by storm. They have one mission in mind -- send a bold message to our government on Mr. Trump's first day in office -- 200,000 women are expected to attend. Joining me now are the co-chairs of the Women's March on Washington -- Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez. Welcome to both of you. So you guys don't belong to any political group, yet 200,000 women. How did you do that?
(Guest Carmen Perez recounts that the movement started with one woman who posted a message to about 40 friends, which spread to thousands, and says many women felt "despair" over the election.)
COSTELLO: And I was just going to ask Linda about the buses because you're in charge of buses.
(The group laugh)
LINDA SARSOUR, NATIONAL CO-CHAIR OF WOMEN'S MARCH ON WASHINGTON: Don't trigger me with the buses conversation. I think, to your point, this is a grassroots effort, and because we don't belong to any political groups, we have no loyalties to any political groups, that we are able to show what ordinary Americans are capable of doing. This is going to be from the grassroots up.
(...)
SARSOUR: We have so many exciting people like America Ferrera, who is part of our, she's chairing our artists table. You know, Carmen-
CARMEN PEREZ, NATIONAL CO-CHAIR OF WOMEN'S MARCH ON WASHINGTON: My boss and mentor Harry Belafonte is one of the honorary co-chairs along with Gloria Steinem, as well as Dolores Huerta who just came on board. So we've been very intentional about who we engage in.
COSTELLO: Wow. So what is the point? What is that bold message that you want to send to the Trump administration?
SARSOUR: I mean, look, you cannot ignore, and we're saying 200,000 conservative just based on the number of buses we have because there could be random people on random buses that we don't know about yet. That we will not be ignored. We want our President-elect in our new administration and our new Congress and Senate, this is not just about Donald Trump. It is about government in total, that we are women, we will protect the most vulnerable amongst us.
We are intersectional human beings. We are impacted by so many issues, including reproductive rights, but also issues of immigration, of racial justice, religious freedom issues, so we are going to be out there with a broad spectrum of people from climate justice to reproductive rights to women's rights to immigration to Native issues, and saying, "We're here, we're watching you, we're ready to fight back, and this is what happens when ordinary people are going to stand up and say we're coming to you to Washington on your first day.
COSTELLO: Mr. Trump might say, you know, there are signs that he is listening right? He has nominated four women of 23 positions to serve in his administration. Ivanka Trump supposedly is going to have this big role in the Trump administration as far as promoting women's issues like child care. So does that give you hope that he is listening?
{Perez complains about the way Trump ran his campaign)
SARSOUR: And putting women is one thing. The idea that women are so shallow that we cared when we see other women. Women doesn't mean that you stand for my issues. So if you're appointing women, but you're telling me that you're going to defund Planned Parenthood, I don't want to hear that. So I think that he needs to understand that women are a lot more sophisticated, we're a lot more intelligent than he thinks we are.
And just the types of rhetoric, and as Carmen said, during the election, calling women, you know, calling Hillary "nasty," like, we're just not having -- he's a misogynist, he's a sexist, and he knows that and we know that. But we're not focusing this march on him. We're going to let him know what we stand for, and let him know that if he doesn't do the right thing, we're coming in the hundreds of thousands to Washington, D.C.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks to both of you.
