If you are like the overwhelming majority of Americans and did not tune into Jim Acosta’s debut of the low-rated CNN show Democracy in Peril, you weren’t missing much. In fact, you can probably guess what was said by Acosta and his conga line of leftist guests.
The first guest Acosta had on was the left-wing election attorney Marc Elias who spewed all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories on the show. Jim Acosta was the first one out of the gate, asking Elias “how likely is it in these upcoming midterms that we're gonna see a scenario of multiple elections across the country becoming such a huge circus because of these bogus fraud claims?”
As expected Elias didn’t scoff at this notion, instead he fearmongered that “we are one, maybe two, elections cycles away from a real constitutional crisis.”
Acosta continued to feed off of Elias’s lunacy asking “what's the impact on our democracy? I mean, Marc, do you have enough lawyers on your team to handle that kind of scenario?”
Later on in the hour, in a segment I like to call “make-believe with Jim Acosta”, the deranged host went on an unhinged monologue about what America would be like if former President Donald Trump somehow stayed in the White House after he lost the 2020 election.
After playing an out of context clip of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich saying Republicans should arrest the congressional members of the January 6 committee, Acosta went further off the deep end:
Jailing political opponents. Yes, that is one thing that happens when democracy dies. Why stop at Congress, Newt? What's next? Judges? Yes, when a would-be dictator seizes power, anything goes at that point. There goes the January 6th investigation. Like the Republican Party is going to stop him. Certainly not the 147 Republicans in the House and Senate who still voted to overturn the election results even after the attack on the Capitol.
Acosta continued his sick fantasy by speculating “I suppose the dictator would occasionally sit down for an interview to take questions about what happened on January 6th. But it wouldn’t be a real interview. So of course he would have to turn to Sean Hannity.”
After playing clips mocking Tucker Carlson for reporting on the news that M&Ms were changing their mascot’s attire, and audio from an interview Sean Hannity had with Trump, Acosta referred to Trump as the “Mussolini of Mar-a-Largo” and wailed that Trump “can seize another breadstick from the buffet at down at his club, but he can't seize our elections.”
If Brianna Keilar's ratings were an abysmal 542,000 total viewers during her turn at hosting Democracy in Peril last week, then one can wonder how low the ratings will be this week with Acosta at the helm. Acosta's family probably won't even be watching.
CNN’s “Democracy in Peril” was made possible thanks to lucrative sponsorships by Liberty Mutual, Charles Schwab, Discover, and TD Ameritrade. Their information is linked so you can let them know about the biased news they fund.
To read the relevant transcript of the January 24th Democracy in Peril low lights click "expand":
CNN’s Democracy in Peril
1/24/2022
9:04:13 PM
JIM ACOSTA: How likely is it in these upcoming midterms that we're gonna see a scenario of multiple elections across the country becoming such a huge circus because of these bogus fraud claims?
MARC ELIAS: I think it's an inevitability. I think we are one, maybe two, elections cycles away from a real constitutional crisis because you now have one of the two major parties in this country that is no longer committed to free and fair elections, no longer committed to the peaceful transfer of power. And, you know, it's easy for people to dismiss this as the rantings of crazy people. But the fact is Donald Trump was the President of the United States when he was talking about calling up the military. These people who we now dismiss as, you know, as off their rocker were working for the President of the United States. And they're now working for Republican candidates around the country.
ACOSTA: And what's the impact on our democracy? I mean, Marc, do you have enough lawyers on your team to handle that kind of scenario?
ELIAS: So, look, I had hoped Congress was going to pass new legislation because it would be really what the backstop is. But, you know, I'm committed and my team is committed to litigating wherever as often as necessary to protect democracy. There is no higher calling as a lawyer or as a citizen. And that's what we're going to do.
(...)
9:06:54 PM
ELIAS: Look, you would have thought that a number of these states after the big lie was shown to be just that, a lie, would have given up. You would have thought that states that had engaged in these bogus audits, after those didn't pan out, would have given up. But what we've actually seen, if you think about it, is the big lie has grown. And the commitment of the Republican Party to the big lie has grown. You know, there are seven members of the house conference today who have an F rating with the NRA. None of them voted for any of the voting rights bills, not one. In state after state legislature, we are seeing Republicans figure out new ways to disenfranchise voters. And why are they doing this? They're doing this, a, because they think it will help them win election, but, B, because they are trying to show fealty to a failed one-term President who cannot get over the fact that he lost the election fair and square.
(...)
9:31:19 PM
ACOSTA: Welcome back. What would have happened if Trump had gotten away with his attempted coup on January 6th? What if he had pulled it off? Just yesterday the former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said the dictator part out loud when he fantasized about the jailing of January 6th committee members simply for trying to get to the bottom of Trump's insurrection.
[cuts to video]
NEWT GINGRICH: I think when you have a Republican Congress this is all gonna come crashing down, and the wolves are gonna find out they're now sheep. And they're the ones who are in fact I think are gonna face a real risk of jail for the kind of laws they're breaking.
[cuts back to live]
ACOSTA: Jailing political opponents. Yes, that is one thing that happens when democracy dies. Why stop at Congress, Newt? What's next? Judges? Yes, when a would-be dictator seizes power, anything goes at that point. There goes the January 6th investigation. Like the Republican Party is going to stop him. Certainly not the 147 Republicans in the House and Senate who still voted to overturn the election results even after the attack on the Capitol. Those lawmakers could have turned to the Trump team plan for bogus alternate electors, outlined in recent days by Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn which sounds like another scheme, Trump advisor Peter Navarro dubbed the Green Bay sweep.
PETER NAVARRO: The plan was simply this. We had over 100 Congressmen and Senators on Capitol Hill ready to implement the sweep. The sweep was simply that. We were gonna challenge the results of the election in the six battleground states.
ACOSTA: Now fortunately the Green Bay sweep was about as successful as Aaron Rogers and the Packers. And then there’s the draft executive order now in the hands of the January 6th committee to have the military seize voting machines, you know like one would do in a coup.
(...)
9:33:49 PM
ACOSTA: What about all that violence on January 6? Seems plausible and an even more Trumpy Justice Department wouldn’t be pursuing any prosecutions. There would be no sedition charges, at least not for the insurrectionists. True, some people would see their reality with their own eyes, just how bad it was. But Trump would have a propaganda outfit to let the American people know it wasn't that awful. Now, who would that be?
[cuts to video]
TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, it was an insurrection? So, how many of the participants in that insurrection have been charged with insurrecting, with sedition, with treason? Zero.
GREG GUTFELD: No one has been charged with sedition or insurrection. Most have been hit with charges like parading. Parading. Who knew that was a crime? By the way, it should be. I hate parades.
[cuts back to live]
ACOSTA: What would the world be like if Trump had pulled it off in the weeks that followed? The dictator would have continued to hold his rallies. January 6th gaslighting would become reality and reality would become gaslighting.
[cuts to video]
DONALD TRUMP: Believe me, there was a lot of love and a lot of friendship and people that love our country. These are great people.
[cuts back to live]
ACOSTA: But there would be other news outlets where you could find the truth, right? Well, now they don't do the free press in autocracies. Ask Trump's friends in Saudi Arabia or Russia. But there still would be state television. You would just have to watch segments on how candy just isn't as sexy as it used to be.
[cuts to video]
CARLSON: M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous, until the moment you wouldn't want to have a drink with any one of them. That's the goal.
[cuts back to live]
ACOSTA: That's about as creepy and dystopian as it gets. I suppose the dictator would occasionally sit down for an interview to take questions about what happened on January 6th. But it wouldn’t be a real interview. So of course he would have to turn to Sean Hannity. Yeah, Sean would still be around, the same Sean Hannity who according to the January 6th committee texted the then-White House Press Secretary after the insurrection to say, no more stolen election talk, impeachment, 25th amendment are real.
[cuts to video]
TRUMP: I believe it was the biggest crowd I've ever spoken to. It was massive. I'm not talking about the people that walked down to the Capitol. I'm talking about the people that we were watching –
HANNITY: At the rally.
TRUMP: That was going to happen. At the rally. There was a lot of love there.
[cuts back to live]
ACOSTA: A lot of love. Thanks, Sean. But fortunately, it did not happen. Mike Pence did not go along with it. Trump failed. The Mussolini of Mar-a-Largo can seize another breadstick from the buffet at down at his club, but he can't seize our elections, at least not yet.
