How much do George Conway—and by extension, CNN—detest Donald Trump? Enough to analogize Donald Trump to O.J. Simpson, the man found civilly responsible for two gruesome stabbing murders!
A frequent CNN guest, Conway—co-founder and leader of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project until it collapsed in a sex scandal—appeared on Thursday morning's New Day.
Conway thought he was more sensible because he cited the case in which Simpson was convicted of armed robbery despite his belief that he was retrieving goods that had been stolen from him. That belief was irrelevant, given the illegal means—the use of a gun—that Simpson employed in retaking the goods.
By analogy, Conway claimed that, even if Trump believed the election was stolen from him, he used illegal means to overturn it. The means Conway cited was the use of force—the Capitol riot—and Trump's intention to join it.
CONWAY: You remember the O.J. Simpson case—not the first one, not the murder case—but the one he actually went to jail for nine years in Nevada state prison for, which was an armed robbery case.
He lured a memorabilia dealer into a hotel because he thought the guy had stolen his stuff. He'd stolen his stuff, so he wanted to take it back, and he took it back at gunpoint. But it didn't matter that O.J. Simpson thought that the stuff belonged to him. No more than it matters that Donald Trump might have thought that the election was won by him. He still used illegal means, and intended to use illegal means, to, to, to, to steal the stuff back!
Of course, Trump ultimately didn't go to the Capitol on January 6th. And the FBI concluded that there is no evidence that Trump was involved in organizing the violence. Whatever Trump's moral or legal failings, Conway's strained analogy speaks more to his unalloyed hatred of Trump than to the former president's shortcomings.
And CNN knows what it's getting when it offers Conway a platform—which is precisely why the liberal network has him on so often! Even so, analogizing Trump to the notorious O.J. Simpson? CNN might have seen that as icing on the cake!
Note: Rather than pushing back on Conway's O.J. Simpson/Trump analogy, co-host John Berman added fuel to the fire, noting that former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone reportedly told Trump that various actions he was considering were not legal.
On CNN's New Day, George Conway analogizing Donald Trump's legal situation to that of O.J. Simpson was sponsored in part by Johnson & Johnson, maker of Pepcid, Subway, Trivago, and Comcast.
Here's the transcript.
CNN
New Day
6/30/22
6:03 am EDTJOHN BERMAN: George, thanks so much for being with us. [If] you were serving as counsel to the January 6th committee Pat Cipollone sits down for a transcribed interview. What do you ask him?
GEORGE CONWAY: Well, I basically ask him everything that happened on January 6th. I ask him specifically about the things that Cassidy Hutchinson said, including the statement by Mr. Cipollone, according to Hutchinson, that he was fearful that we would be charged with "everything under the sun" if they allowed Donald Trump to go up to Capitol Hill.
So, there's a lot to ask him, there's going to be a lot to ask whether or not he had given Donald Trump warnings about his potential criminal liability, and a full accounting of that day is absolutely -- absolutely requires Cipollone.
BRIANNA KEILAR: And then what's the impact of that, George, depending on what he says and how far he goes?
CONWAY: Well, I mean, the impact could be to reinforce Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony because that, that went up -- that testimony went a long way to establishing Donald Trump's criminal intent.
And let me give you an example of, that explains why. You remember the O.J. Simpson case—not the first one, not the murder case—but the one he actually went to jail for nine years in Nevada state prison for, which was an armed robbery case.
He lured a memorabilia dealer into a hotel because he thought the guy had stolen his stuff. He'd stolen his stuff, so he wanted to take it back, and he took it back at gunpoint. But it didn't matter that O.J. Simpson thought that the stuff belonged to him. No more than it matters that Donald Trump might have thought that the election was won by him. He still used illegal means, and intended to use illegal means, to, to, to, to steal the stuff back!
And that's the thing that's happening with Trump! What happened with, with Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, is that we, it showed that Donald Trump intended to use illegal means—force—to take back the presidency, by marching with these people he knew couldn't cross through magnetometers because they were armed. And he didn't care! He wanted them to go up to the Hill. And that's the devastating testimony that we learned, along with the fact that Cipollone, according to Hutchinson, said that, that, that there were potentially, potential criminal conduct here if Trump were allowed to go up to Capitol Hill.
BERMAN: Of course, Cipollone's central not just in this episode but in so many others, where, according to other witnesses, he told the president or told others, what you are doing is not legal. A fake elector keep is not legal. This would be wrong.
