In a typical liberal CNN commentary, Newsroom host Brianna Keilar went after Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday for a tweet mocking all the media hype for Biden's national-security picks for all their competence and expertise, when their policies are bad for America.
Keilar began by informing viewers that "Rubio posts a Bible verse on Twitter most every day. Recent ones is messages about respect, humility, loving enemies. These are important themes, especially in the moment that we’re in." But Keilar claimed Rubio's Bible verse tweets are usually combined with attacks on Democrats, a "one-two punch," suggesting a political abuse of the Scriptures.
Rubio's daily devotions are often one-two punches accompanied by judgments or attacks. On Tuesday just before he quoted Proverbs and folks not to rejoice when the enemies fall he went after President-Elect Joe Biden's first nominees, he said 'Biden’s cabinet picks went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences and will be to polite and orderly caretakers of America's decline. I support American greatness and I have no interest in returning to the ‘normal’ that left us dependent on China.'
Does anyone who actually uses Twitter think that tweets that are posted 25 minutes apart are a "one-two punch"? The one was "just before" the other? The cabinet-picks tweet was at 9:08 AM, the Proverbs quote at 9:33. Would you say a 9:08 CNN "news" segment was right next to one 25 minutes later?
Biden’s cabinet picks went to Ivy League schools,have strong resumes,attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 24, 2020
I support American greatness
And I have no interest in returning to the “normal” that left us dependent on China
Keilar then tried to sound reasonable for a moment, saying that the nature of U.S.-China relations is a legitimate debate, but then alleged that Republicans have a difficult relationship with expertise and knowledge:
Rubio is also going after Biden's picks for being educated and qualified and networking with people who know about the fields they are now leading in, this is what they're doing, what they are in charge of. It is a rejection of experience and expertise that permeated the Republican Party even before President Trump.
And for someone poking at Ivy League educations he fails the note that Biden will be the first president in four decades without one, without an Ivy League education and Kamala Harris the first winning presidential ticket in 44 years without Ivy stripes.
She then tried to paint Rubio as a hypocrite by showing all the Ivy Leaguers in the Trump Administration including Trump himself, all she did was prove that Republicans aren't a bunch of proudly ignorant anti-intellectuals. They're not mocking expertise, they're mocking the arrogance of liberal experts.
Ironically, Keilar suggested the Republicans hate educated people and then pointed out their Ivy League degrees. It's the CNN types who never acknowledged any expertise on the Trump team. For example, Keilar then mocked "Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and senior advisor whose portfolio constantly eclipses his expertise, went to Harvard."
Keilar would go onto allege that Kushner got into Harvard because his father made a $2.5 million donation to the school, but that misses the point. Kushner, while being routinely mocked by the experts, helped get more Middle East peace agreements in four years than the entire Ivy League/Georgetown-to-State Department pipeline got in the preceding several decades.
This Brianna's Hot Take segment was sponsored by Panera Bread.
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CNN Newsroom
1:31 PM ET
BRIANNA KEILAR: Republican Senator Marco Rubio posts a Bible verse on Twitter most every day. Recent ones is messages about respect, humility, loving your enemies. These are important themes, especially in the moment that we’re in. But Rubio's daily devotions are often one-two punches accompanied by judgments or attacks. On Tuesday just before he quoted Proverbs and urged folks not to rejoice when the enemies fall he went after President-Elect Joe Biden's first nominees. He said “Biden’s cabinet picks went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences and will be to polite and orderly caretakers of America's decline. I support American greatness and I have no interest in returning to the ‘normal’ that left us dependent on China.”
Now, there's certainly a debate to be had between Republicans and Democrats on some very key issues that they are facing at this point in time, right? This includes ideologies that guide each party on policy and that would include U.S. and China relations, but Rubio is also going after Biden's picks for being educated and qualified and networking with people who know about the fields they are now leading in, this is what they're doing, what they are in charge of. It is a rejection of experience and expertise that permeated the Republican Party even before President Trump.
And for someone poking at Ivy League educations he fails the note that Biden will be the first president in four decades without one, without an Ivy League education and Kamala Harris the first winning presidential ticket in 44 years without Ivy stripes. So look at President Trump's administration which for four years has been at the helm of the American greatness that Rubio champions. It's full of people that went to Ivy League schools -- Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth. Trump himself attended UPenn. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and senior advisor whose portfolio constantly eclipses his expertise, went to Harvard.
In The Price of Admission, Daniel Golden’s book of how quote the rich buy the underachieving children's way in it elite universities with massive tax-deductible donations was revealed that Kushner's attendance at Harvard followed his father donating $2.5 million to the school. Now the Kushner family denies that there was any connection between the cash and his acceptance. Rubio's chief of staff, though, he went to Stanford Business School, not Ivy League, but it’s the closest thing we West Coasters have to it and it’s arguably as difficult to get into as Harvard's business school. Rubio’s former campaign manager taught at George Washington University and on his bio page he touts himself as a featured speaker at Harvard. The president for four years helmed the American greatness that Rubio talks about in his tweet and considers his matriculation from the business school at UPenn among the greatest accomplishment even 50 years after graduation.
