Former Virginia Attorney General and founder of the DeSantis-aligned Super PAC Never Back Down, Ken Cuccinelli confronted CNN's State of the Union fill-in anchor for deceptively editing comments made by Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis during an interview with the Florida Standard to make it seem like he called Trump supporters "listless vessels." Regardless of whom you support for the Republican nomination, everyone should be outraged at the media lying about one of the Republican candidates.
Setting up the dishonest clip, Hunt insisted "There was a pretty interesting moment in a recent interview where Governor DeSantis talked about Trump supporters. He used the words listless vessels."
Cuccinelli jumped in to correct her: "He wasn’t talking about Trump supporters!"
This is what Hunt aired from DeSantis's interview:
RON DESANTIS: A movement can’t be about the personality of one individual. If all we are is listless vessels that are just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that's not going to be a durable moment.
Here is the full transcript from this portion of the DeSantis interview which was sent to members of the media through a press release from the DeSantis campaign:
So there will be people who are huge Trump supporters, like in Congress, who have incredibly liberal left-wing records that is really just atrocious, and yet they're viewed by some of these folks as like, really, really good. Then you have other people, you know, like a Congressman Chip Roy, who has endorsed me, Congressman Thomas Massie. These guys have records of principle fighting the swamp that are second to none. And yet, they will be attacked by some of these people and called RINOs. So it's just been totally detached from any type of substance. And ultimately, a movement can't be about the personality of one individual. The movement has got to be about what are you trying to achieve on behalf of the American people? And that's got to be based in principle. Because if you're not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that are just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that's not going to be a durable movement.
In response to Hunt's dishonesty, Cuccinelli pointed out her editing trick: "Everybody just saw there that there was a cut. You cut from the beginning of that quote to the listless vessels. You just did what the problem is. So everyone who just watched that, understand, go read the transcript."
“If all we are is listless vessels that are just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning — that’s not going to be a durable movement.” pic.twitter.com/zAaxdYOGbk
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) August 19, 2023
Playing dumb, Hunt asked: "How do we get from there to listless vessels?"
"There was a pretty big gap in your cut. So he's talking about some of the folks in D.C. who’ve endorsed Trump. He’s talking about the more general environment and referring to all of us collectively," Cuccinelli explained. "We can't just sit back and take all of this, be listless vessels. We have to move ahead with a different vision. That was not Trump assigned. So folks, go read the transcript. You don't have to listen to me. You can go read it yourself."
Luckily readers don't have to go find the transcript online since it was provided here at NewsBusters! Share this article with your friends and family so they aren't tricked by liberal media hacks like CNN's Kasie Hunt!
This dishonest editing by CNN was made possible thanks to the endorsement by Allstate. Their information is linked.
The transcript is below:
CNN’s State of the Union
8/20/2023
9:51:26 a.m. EasternKASIE HUNT: There was a pretty interesting moment in a recent interview where Governor DeSantis talked about Trump supporters. He used the words listless vessels.
KEN CUCCINELLI: He wasn’t talking about Trump supporters!
HUNT: Hold on! I’m going to play it for everybody and then you can go ahead. Let’s listen.
[cuts to video]
RON DESANTIS: A movement can’t be about the personality of one individual. If all we are is listless vessels that are just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that's not going to be a durable moment.
[cuts back to live]
CUCCINELLI: Everybody just saw there that there was a cut. You cut from the beginning of that quote to the listless vessels. You just did what the problem is. So everyone who just watched that, understand, go read the transcript.
[crosstalk]
HUNT: You summarize for us, what was it that he was trying to say?
CUCCINELLI: Well, first of all, his first point is an excellent point. This should be about America and not about individuals—
HUNT: Fair. Okay. How do we get from there to listless vessels?
CUCCINELLI: Yes well, the rest of an entire paragraph by the way. I mean, there was a pretty big gap in your cut. So he's talking about some of the folks in D.C. who’ve endorsed Trump. He’s talking about the more general environment and referring to all of us collectively. We can't just sit back and take all of this, be listless vessels. We have to move ahead with a different vision. That was not Trump assigned. So folks, go read the transcript. You don't have to listen to me. You can go read it yourself.