As CNN’s embarrassing denial concerning the very dubious July 26 Trump Tower story continues, Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson and conservative author Mark Steyn had some fun Thursday night mocking the “meta-lying” surrounding the CNN story led in part by “fraudulent character” Carl Bernstein.
Carlson ran through the plethora of early Thursday morning CNN tweets from President Trump before noting that, concerning the Davis snafu, “CNN, for its part, has refused comment on its own dishonesty.” He then gave Steyn the floor to first note that “it is always a good idea, Tucker, when the President gets the media talking about themselves.”
Steyn continued with his trademark humor that few could pull off as Carlson burst out laughing, including a shot at Bernstein and his vacation spot (click “expand” for more):
But I think out in the wider world, the reality is that the media are — people loathe the media even more than politicians and they especially loathe the media when they're talking about themselves. So, if you can get Carl Bernstein talking pompously and ponderously about how he has spent whatever it is, 60 years “bringing the truth to light” while he’s summering at Sag Harbor, which I gather is like — Sag Habor is some broken down, old lobsterman’s decrepit village somewhere way up the coast nobody’s ever heard of. [CARLSON LAUGHS] But anyway, Carl Bernstein’s — Carl Bernstein’s summering at Sag Harbor announcing that he’s bringing the truth to light. Every time you can get the media to stand in their old pretentiousness, then I think that’s a win for the President.
Carlson replied that “there’s nothing that the press likes to talk about more than itself” and it’s not only “self-involvement on parade,” but “free therapy for most reporters who need it.”
Steyn later circled back to the Davis story and opined that, from the beginning, “I thought it was rubbish because Michael Cohen is now being forced to lie about everything he’s been doing for the previous quarter-century” and “Davis was just passing on his client's lies but, in fact, he’s lying about what the liar lied to him about that day.”
The FNC host piled on by deeming this whole case to be filed with “meta-lying” before turning back to Trump’s CNN tweets as an example of what the media claimed voters have been longing, which is “authenticity...in their politics.” But now that Trump is doing just that, “the media hate it.”
After Steyn quipped that Trump goes against the political establishment by not focus-grouping catchphrases before tweeting them, the pair offered a humorous conclusion knocking the media and slamming Bernstein (click “expand” to read more):
CARLSON: It’s hilarious. I've so many mixed feelings about all this, but I will say I agree with you. I will never again cite to some pompous kind TV saying, what's voters only want his authenticity. Voters may want to it, the media doesn’t. Mark Steyn, great to see you.
STEYN: Oh thanks — thanks, Tucker, you've spent years bringing the truth to light too. We should all talk pompously like Carl Bernstein.
CARLSON: What a fraudulent character. Thank you, Mark.
STEYN: Thanks.
To see the relevant transcript from FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight on August 30, click “expand.”
FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
August 30, 2018
8:08 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: There was a lot going on all day and it started early. The feud between the president and the news media reached a new peak or maybe valley. It began with a tweet storm early from the West Wing, the barrage 6:50 a.m. when it started. The first tweet read this way: “The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function. But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time. Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!” Little Jeff is a reference to Jeff Zucker who was 5'6" and runs CNN. 12 minutes later, the President continued this way: “What’s going on at @CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks - with @NBCNews being the worst. The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired(?) for incompetence, and much worse. When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia, they were hurt badly!” In a third tweet, the President that he “cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda. This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People!” Subsequently, the President noted that “is working frantically to find their ‘source.’ Look hard because it doesn’t exist. Whatever was left of CNN’s credibility is now gone!” The reference to the source, of course, is to an apparently fraudulent CNN story that claimed the President was aware of the now famous Russia lawyer meeting at Trump Tower before it took place. Lanny Davis, the lawyer representing Cohen, now concedes he was the source of the story and he admits he has no evidence that it is actually true. That’s bad for CNN, obviously. CNN, for its part, has refused comment on its own dishonesty. Mark Steyn is a best-selling author and a genius at sorting things out and he joins us to do that. Mark! You saw tweet storm? Your response?
MARK STEYN: Well, I think it is always a good idea, Tucker, when the President gets the media talking about themselves. I — I saw Howard Kurtz earlier and Howard’s analysis makes sense in media terms. But I think out in the wider world, the reality is that the media are — people loathe the media even more than politicians and they especially loathe the media when they're talking about themselves. So, if you can get Carl Bernstein talking pompously and ponderously about how he has spent whatever it is, 60 years “bringing the truth to light” while he’s summering at Sag Harbor, which I gather is like — Sag Habor is some broken down, old lobsterman’s decrepit village somewhere way up the coast nobody’s ever heard of. [CARLSON LAUGHS] But anyway, Carl Bernstein’s — Carl Bernstein’s summering at Sag Harbor announcing that he’s bringing the truth to light. Every time you can get the media to stand in their old pretentiousness, then I think that’s a win for the President.
CARLSON: But is though? Because there’s nothing that the press likes to talk about more than itself. I mean, this is self-involvement on parade. I mean, this is like free therapy for most reporters who need it. So, do they — I mean, everybody wins it seems like.
STEYN: Well, yes, but I think actually — I think this is one thing where people do agree with him, that they feel the media do not actually give them a fair shake. So actually, for example, everyone’s saying: “Oh, no, no, there's nothing wrong with that NBC thing. There was nothing wrong with it.” Except for it’s one of those over-edited interviews in which the bits they take out are as revealing as anything they leave in and the president has a point on that and I think it’s actually very reasonable to raise the way these things are edited and why they’re editing in that way. As for the Lanny Davis thing, I understand Lanny Davis thrice denied he was the source for the CNN story. When I first read the CNN story, I thought it was rubbish because Michael Cohen is now being forced to lie about everything he’s been doing for the previous quarter-century. So, the government's star witness is a liar whose deal is conditioning — conditional on these new lies. So I thought Lanny Davis was just passing on his client's lies but, in fact, he’s lying about what the liar lied to him about that day. So, it’s — it’s — it’s actually, even by CNN media source standards, it is falling apart that one.
CARLSON: It’s meta-lying. So, I mean, you’re old enough like me to remember a time when political analysts said things like, what American voters really want is authenticity and transparency in their politics. Here we have a president who’s literally tweeting in his bedroom early morning saying things like, CNN sucks. Now that’s the most authentic and transparent thing a President has ever done and yet the media hate it.
STEYN: Well, that’s right because — well, this isn't the way a president behaves. What is he supposed to do? Is he — he’s supposed to — his minders are supposed to focus group “CNN sucks” for six weeks and then a spokesman will come out at a podium and read out a press belief saying that “CNN sucks.” The fact that he wakes up and thinks CNN sucks and then says “CNN sucks.” He’s not doing it right and they can't stand that and you’re right, this is actually — you can complain about a lot of things, but this is like actually being plugged into Trump's brain when he wakes up in the morning. And they can’t — after for asking for unfiltered, unauthentic politicians who are not in the bubble, this guy is not in the bubble! He’s out of the bubble taking the tire iron to them and they can't stand it.
CARLSON: It’s hilarious. I've so many mixed feelings about all this, but I will say I agree with you. I will never again cite to some pompous kind TV saying, what's voters only want his authenticity. Voters may want to it, the media doesn’t. Mark Steyn, great to see you.
STEYN: Oh thanks — thanks, Tucker, you've spent years bringing the truth to light too. We should all talk pompously like Carl Bernstein.
CARLSON: What a fraudulent character. Thank you, Mark.
STEYN: Thanks.
