What was known as CNN Tonight is now temporarily known as Democracy in Peril and with a name such as that it was predictable that host Brianna Keilar roped all GOP-passed election laws in with "The Big Lie" on Monday, claiming them to be "cancer" and any attempt to claim they are not voter suppression laws is simply "gaslighting."
During a long-winded monologue against the GOP, Keilar declared:
The Big Lie is a cancer. So how do you cut it out without killing the patient? Is it even possible? As it metastasizes in one Republican-led state legislature after another. Thirty-four new laws in at least 19 states according to the Brennan Center that restrict voting access that could disproportionately affect voters of color. In particular legislatures in competitive states are making it harder to cast a ballot. And key Republicans are gaslighting America.
As Keilar delivered her diatribe, CNN put up a map of states that had supposedly passed these laws. Of the 19 states, one was dark blue New York, while others, like Kentucky, have Democratic governors. In April 2021, CNN's own website said Kentucky's law expanded voter access and even some of Keilar's own colleagues don't agree with her or the liberal Brennan Center on the impact of the other states' laws. The idea that Republicans are undermining voting rights could be said to be the media's own Big Lie.
Not deterred by such facts, Keilar played a clip of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from March 2021 declaring, "States are not engaging in trying to suppress voters whatsoever." After the clip, Keilar asserted that "Saying it doesn't make it true."
There are thousands of elected offices throughout the country, but Keilar claimed that the sky is falling because, "According to a Washington Post tally at least 163 Big Lie Republicans are running for state or national office."
Keilar eventually turned to redistricting, which is another way Republicans are supposedly threatening democracy:
Meanwhile, state legislatures dominated by Republicans are drawing congressional maps that look like amoebas. Gerrymandering their states into congressional seats that are easy for their party to hold on to. Republicans control the redistricting process in states that oversee 187 House seats. Democrats control the process in states that oversee just 75 seats. Ohio's state supreme court struck down the congressional map proposed by Republicans just this past Friday saying the way it was drawn was like a dealer stacking the deck.
If Keilar thought Ohio's map was bad, just wait until she sees what Illinois Democrats came up with.
This segment was sponsored by Chase.
Here is a transcript for the January 17 show:
CNN Democracy in Peril
1/17/2022
9:03 PM ET
BRIANNA KEILAR: The big lie is a cancer. So how do you cut it out without killing the patient? Is it even possible? As it metastasizes in one Republican-led state legislature after another. Thirty-four new laws in at least 19 states according to the Brennan Center that restrict voting access that could disproportionately affect voters of color. In particular legislatures in competitive states are making it harder to cast a ballot. And key Republicans are gaslighting America.
MITCH MCCONNELL: States are not engaging in trying to suppress voters whatsoever.
KEILAR: Saying it doesn't make it true. As much as Republican leaders who subscribe to or enable the Big Lie want for it to be. And that club is likely to get bigger. According to a Washington Post tally at least 163 Big Lie Republicans are running for state or national office, positions that in many cases would give them authority or influence over the administration of elections. The list includes 69 candidates for governor in 30 states as well as 55 candidates for the U.S. Senate, 13 candidates for state attorney general, and 18 candidates for secretary of state. The Republican officials who aren't selling or enabling the Big Lie are on an island and a lightly populated one at that. The ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the attack on The Capitol by his supporters are facing primary challenges or getting out of Congress entirely. Meanwhile, state legislatures dominated by Republicans are drawing congressional maps that look like amoebas. Gerrymandering their states into congressional seats that are easy for their party to hold on to. Republicans control the redistricting process in states that oversee 187 House seats. Democrats control the process in states that oversee just 75 seats. Ohio's state supreme court struck down the congressional map proposed by Republicans just this past Friday saying the way it was drawn was like a dealer stacking the deck. And then there's Trump himself. It is possible that his influence over his party is flagging but it is far from dead. He is still the leader of his party. He could run again in 2024. And members of his party are loath to criticize him even when he is leaning into conspiracy theories about the FBI orchestrating the January 6th attacks and bragging about his audience size that day.
