On Wednesday morning, CNN’s New Day ran a ludicrous “Reality Check” on the re-election campaign kickoff President Trump hosted in Orlando Tuesday night. Host Alisyn Camerota called his rally “fact-free” before handing the segment off to John Avlon so he could spew even more misinformation.
Avlon called the rally “an arena rock revival tour” and argued that the “freshness” of his political campaign had faded, and the crowd was merely “feeding off familiarity.” Avlon’s observation is quite comical considering the freshness of the Russian collusion story faded around a month after Trump’s inauguration, but it’s June of 2019 and his network is still beating that dead horse.
The reporter then turned to the Mueller report and essentially stated that Trump was guilty of obstruction: “He played his equivalent of Freebird calling the Russian investigation a witch hunt again, even though it was Mueller’s fidelity to the letter of the law that probably saved him from an obstruction wrap.” There isn’t any hard evidence Trump has committed obstruction, and he hasn’t been proven guilty in a court of law, but it seems that “innocent until proven guilty” isn’t a matter of concern for Avlon.
Alvon then again dug up Merrick Garland, who the left loves to parade around since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell killed his nomination, and complained that Trump accused Democrats of wanting "to take away your judges when that's literally what Mitch McConnell did to Obama by blocking Merrick Garland." He further accused Trump of trying to "radicalize our judiciary." He continued to say that Trump is “radicalizing our judiciary” and “politicizing the courts” by filling empty seats with conservative judges.
The most astounding accusation made by Alvon regarding the judiciary was when he whined that Trump was projecting when he said that Democrats were “more extreme, more depraved, lacking in character and virtue.” Has he forgotten Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the Democrats crusade to tarnish the character of a man on unsubstantiated accusations?
Soon after, Avlon then alluded to Trump being hypocritical because he “repeatedly refused to say if he’d concede if he lost.” Avlon’s network has consistently given a platform to Stacy Abrams, who still refuses to concede Georgia’s gubernatorial election. Why does CNN allow for a double standard when it comes to Democrats?
Avlon crossed another line when he stated incorrectly that VA Choice was passed by Obama. A VA Choice act did indeed pass under Obama, but the Trump Administration replaced it. The current VA Choice legislation is Trump’s, and Avlon is misleading his viewers with his statement.
The blatantly biased segment wrapped up its “reality check” when Avlon declared that “facts aren’t the point of a Trump rally.” He went on to say that the President loves to “deflect, distract, and divide.” Though, wasn’t it CNN who cut their coverage of the Trump rally after chants of “CNN sucks” rang out from the crowd? Who’s really deflecting criticism here?
Here is the complete transcript from the segment:
CNN New Day
06/19/2019
7:49 AM
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Well, it was a fact-free festival in Florida. Why don't you just write Lilith Fair in there?
JOHN BERMAN: Are there a lot of facts at Lilith Fair?
CAMEROTA: I don't know. I know there's more there than last night. Because President Trump played all of his greatest hits. But it was his powers of projection that were most notable to our John Avalon. Here he is with our musical reality check. Hi John.
JOHN AVLON: It was really more Lynyrd Skynyrd then the Indigo Girls, but I digress. President Trump’s reelection kickoff was the political equivalent of an arena rock revival tour. The freshness has faded, but the audience is feeding off familiarity. They came to hear the hits, not the new material. So there was Trump claiming he had done more in his first two and a half years than any president ever. Never mind that FDR and Harry Truman have him beaten their first 100 days alone. He played his equivalent of Freebird calling the Russian investigation a witch hunt again, even though it was Mueller’s fidelity to the letter of the law that probably saved him from an obstruction wrap. And the man who refuses to criticize Vladimir Putin repeated his claim that no one's been tougher on Russia than him. But what really stood out last night was Trump's power of projection. He loves to accuse his political opponents of the sins he’s been credibly accused of, so he flipped the script to falsely say that the only collusion with Russia was committed by Democrats. He painted a picture of Democrats, quote, driven by hatred, prejudice, and rage, called them radical, and dangerous, and unhinged. More extreme, more depraved, lacking in character and virtue. But the projection extended to policy as well. Trump declared Democrats want to take away your judges when that's literally what Mitch McConnell did to Obama by blocking Merrick Garland and then accused Democrats of wanting to radicalize our judiciary when he’s made right wing views the litmus test for judges, further politicizing the courts. He warned that the Democrats wanted to use the power of the law to punish their opponents, right when he's making the DOJ investigate the investigators and of course there was lock her up, as if to prove the point. Hillary Clinton also came under fire for refusing to respect a subpoena, when the Trump White House has made refusing to respect subpoenas their signature move. And get this he framed the election as a, quote, verdict on whether we want to live in a country where people who lose an election refuse to concede. Sound familiar? In the close of the 2016 election Trump repeatedly refused to say if he'd concede if he lost. But the winner of that election still wants to campaign against a rigged system. He said, quote, my only interest is you while he’s continued to profit from his private businesses. He’s railed against illegal immigration, which has spiked on his watch, while falsely claiming that Democrats favor open borders, which no one does. Hitting Democrats on health care without a plan of his own yet, though he did repeatedly hail VA Choice which was passed under Obama. Trump again said he'd protect people with pre-existing conditions while his DOJ is in court trying to throw out all of Obamacare including pre-existing coverage. But after all of this, he said he longs for bipartisanship when it comes to infrastructure and immigration reform when he’s refused to deal with Democrats on these issues as long as they engage in congressional oversight. Let's face it, facts aren't the point of a Trump rally. The audience came for the show and the President is first and foremost a performer who loves to play deflect, distract, and divide. But amid all the pyrotechnics one prediction he made last night could come true in 2020. The only thing these corrupt politician they'll understand, he said is an earthquake at the election box. Well find out on Election Day whether that applies to Democrats, or Republicans, and that's your reality check.
CAMEROTA: Well played, John. We always love the musical references.
