On The Ingraham Angle Friday night, host Laura Ingraham and her panel reacted to the media meltdowns following the release of the Mueller report after playing some clips of “the worst offenders of the week.” Fox News Contributor Tammy Bruce proclaimed that the media’s ongoing obsession with the idea of Trump-Russia probe has “turned into fan fiction” while Ingraham urged the media to seek rehabilitation for their unhealthy obsession with the topic.
Ingraham’s first media montage consisted of CNN personalities and guests, including former Obama administration official Samantha Vinograd, describing the Mueller report as a “gift to the Kremlin.” Following the montage, former CNN Contributor Jeffrey Lord pointed out that the Russians’ goal was to “provoke and amplify political and social discord within the United States.” According to Lord, “as all of those folks just demonstrated, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because all these people took the bait, big time.”
At this point, Ingraham asked Bruce to respond to the media meltdown, which she described as “one for the ages.” After Bruce compared the media’s collective post-Mueller meltdown to “fan fiction,” she alleged that “it’s almost as though they know it’s absolutely impossible. But they can’t let it go. It’s like that show, Intervention, where the person starts running across the parking lot because they don’t want to get into the van to go to the airport to go to the rehab center. Bruce declared that the media “have completely lost any sense of normalcy, of any kind of sense of reality…they know it and they don’t care.”
Later, Bruce talked about how “the media has been relying on the phrases like the walls are closing in. You know? They’re coming in to get him. His whole family’s going to walk out in handcuffs. And normally, you would think that this is someone who’s saying this to their psychiatrist in the shrink’s office but no, they’ve been saying it on television. And now with the reality of it, it is almost pathological at this point.”
Ingraham proceeded to play a clip of ABC News’s Jonathan Karl alleging that the Mueller report found “significant contact here, you might even say collusion.” Apparently, he forgot that the Mueller report cleared the President of “coordinating, conspiring with the Russians,” as Ingraham put it. Ingraham closed the segment by arguing that the media “need to go to some type of rehabilitation program or spa treatment or rehab...They’ve got to be able to shake this. This is like an addiction for them.”
Perhaps Lord said it best when he talked about how the media “were obsessed about” trying “to frame” President Trump. According to Lord, “they’re so disappointed they didn’t get him and they’re going to try again. And the only one they’re going to get is themselves.” In other words, members of the media seem all too happy to sacrifice their reputations as balanced journalists if it means getting rid of President Trump.
A transcript of the relevant portion of The Ingraham Angle is below. Click “expand” to read more.
The Ingraham Angle
04/19/19
10:23 PM
LAURA INGRAHAM: It’s easy to become numb about media bias these days so The Ingraham Angle is keeping track of the worst offenders of the week, which as you know can, you can all imagine, were in a tizzy over the Mueller report. So after spending two years hyping this collusion thing, some in the print media didn’t have a single “no collusion” headline on the front page. They ignored the main headline of the report. But that’s not all. Here to break down the Mueller media mania, Tammy Bruce, Fox News Contributor and President of the Independent Women’s Voice, along with former CNN Contributor and Contributing Editor at The American Spectator Jeff Lord. All right, panel. Let’s begin with Jeff’s former colleagues, who allege the Mueller report is a gift to the Kremlin. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JANE HARMAN: First of all, Vladimir Putin can fly the mission accomplished sign on his whatever carrier squadron or whatever he has or whatever he’s building.
CHRIS CUOMO: The Wall Street Journal headline now reads, “Putin Has Won.”
PHIL MUDD: Mueller says nobody broke the law, so if I’m Putin, I’m saying “well, let’s do it again.”
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD: Let’s be clear, this report is a gift to the government of Russia. This is a very proud moment for Vladimir Putin for several reasons.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
INGRAHAM: Jeff, is this how they express their disappointment or sorrow, apologies over there? What’s going on?
JEFFREY LORD: Yeah. Yeah. They, they ignored the main headline. And one of the things I think is amusing, Laura, I want to read you this short excerpt from a sentence in the actual Mueller report by the Mueller folks, that the Russians did this “to provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States.” As all of those folks have just demonstrated, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because all these people took the bait, big time.
INGRAHAM: Tammy, I’ve watched meltdowns before in the American media, but I think this is one for the ages. Because for so long, they had banked it all on Trump was like trying to do a deal in Russia so he had the dossier. Then they went to the Trump Tower meeting and it was Cohen and Prague. None of it panned out.
TAMMY BRUCE: You know, and even in the past, they’d gone so far as to making things up. Some people at that other network got fired or had to resign. So they’ve recognized in their own process that they’re so invested in this false narrative that they’ve had to fake it. At this point, with the clips you showed, it’s turned into fan fiction. It’s not even…it’s, it’s, it’s almost as though they know it’s absolutely impossible. But they can’t let it go. It’s like that show, Intervention, where the person starts running across the parking lot because they don’t want to get into the van to go to the airport to go to the rehab center. They have completely lost any sense of normalcy, of any kind of sense of reality and, and they know it and they don’t care. They just think that well, maybe this is going to be click bait and maybe some of our audience will come back.
INGRAHAM: Well, MSNBC host Ari Melber is a lawyer but apparently…I’m not sure if he’s a very good one or if he just misread part of the Mueller report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI MELBER: That goes back to what Mueller implies repeatedly here which is, if anyone else did this, they’d be busted. They’d be arrested. They’d probably be in jail. And it’s different when it’s the President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, Tammy. Is this the fantasy for the media folks, to see the, the, the President walked out of the White House in, in handcuffs?
BRUCE: Right.
INGRAHAM: They thought they were going to see that; the orange jump suit. And, again, if you read the report and read what they said about obstruction, it wasn’t all banked on Article II and examining Article II powers. They didn’t have the corrupt intent. They couldn’t get corrupt intent because they didn’t get an interview with the President and they wouldn’t have had it even if they did…
BRUCE: Yeah.
INGRAHAM: …period.
BRUCE: Yeah, the media has been relying on the phrases like the walls are closing in. You know, they’re coming in to get him. His whole family’s going to walk out in the handcuffs. And normally, you would think that this is someone who is saying this to their psychiatrist in, in the shrink’s office. But no, they’ve been saying it on television. And now, with the reality of it, it is almost pathological at this point. But, but, really, the second book on obstruction shouldn’t have really have been written at all.
INGRAHAM: No, it’s ridiculous.
BRUCE: I mean, you know, it’s based in that kind…
INGRAHAM: Pillow talk.
BRUCE: Yeah, it’s based in that kind of fantasy, almost like, you know, the consolation prize so that the Democrats and the media can try to hang their hat on something.
INGRAHAM: Now because the report clears President Trump of conspiring, coordinating with the Russians, we should be done with the media’s collusion dreams, I would have thought. Well, not so fast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN KARL: Ultimately, the conclusion here in this Special Counsel was it did not rise to the level of a violation of the law. But there is significant contact here, you might even say collusion, George.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I understand, Jeff Lord, at one point in time, someone on the Trump campaign drank a white Russian at the bar. Okay? So, Jon, Jon Karl, Jeff, go ahead.
LORD: The only collusion here, I mean, these people keep asking for transparency. They want to talk collusion. They’re about to get the real truth with all these deep state people in the FBI and the Department of Justice who were colluding with members of the media to trap Donald Trump, to frame Donald Trump. And they were obsessed about it. And they’re still obsessed about it. And they’re so disappointed they didn’t get him and they’re going to try again. And the only one they’re going to get is themselves.
INGRAHAM: Well, they need to go to, you know, some type of rehabilitation program or…
BRUCE: They’ll fight it.
INGRAHAM: …spa treatment or rehab.
BRUCE: They’ll fight it.
INGRAHAM: So they got to…they’ve got to be able to shake this. This is like an addiction for them. I mean, honestly, they’ve got to shake it. Guys, great to see both of you tonight. Thank you so much. Love having you on.
