CNN’s Movie Trailer-Style Open to Election Night Coverage Was as Dumb as You’d Expect

Screenshot via CNN/Snapstream

Ahead of showing off its brand-new Washington bureau studio, CNN opened Election Night in America with a movie trailer-style opening that echoed the farcical, biased productions that ABC News has become known to churn out (going back through 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, and beyond), framing Democrats as inevitable and noble while Republicans are fringe and weak.

The narrator boomed from the get-go: “Election day is here. The polls are open, and control of Congress is up for grabs.” After a clip of Abdul el-Sayed saying he “we won’t back down” and Mike Rogers telling a crowd “we have a state to save,” the narrator returned with his first thumb on the scale: “Voters across America have a chance to upend the political order in Washington.”

Of course, the insinuation here was that the “upend[ing]” is glorious thing.

And, what do you know, it played right into a clip from Texas socialist James Talarico saying, “we are going to shock the nation.”

The video grew infinitely more gleeful for the party most of CNN likely voted for, gushing over Democrats delivering Trump “a potentially crippling roadblock.” Also, take notice of how some of the Republican soundbites in the rest of the video are framed as cultural, while Democrat soundbites are pinned as on-message:

CNN NARRATOR: Will President Trump’s second term get a green light, or hit a potentially crippling roadblock?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m going to be impeached. [SCREEN WIPE] They’re going to impeach me.

CNN NARRATOR: From coast to coast, candidates are delivering their closing pitches to voters who are frustrated with both parties and the direction of the country.

STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON (R-TX): Everything costs more. Everything’s up except your paycheck.

SENATOR JON OSSOFF (D-GA): It’s the most corrupt administration of all time.

FORMER GOVERNOR ROY COOPER (D-NC): We need to end this war in Iran.

MICHAEL WHATLEY: I will stand up to the woke mob.

In between a clip of former President Obama swooning over “change...in the air,” the CNN narrator must have suffered a thrill up his leg in framing the Democrats as noble: “Tonight, Democrats are chasing a political comeback, with an energized electorate and history on their side...aiming to take back the House and put a check on the White House.”

When it came to the Senate, the CNN narrator briefly fretted: “It’s tougher map in the Senate with must-win seats for Democrats in razor-thin races, and any state could decide at all.”

Following another set of el-Sayed and Rogers soundbites and then one each for Maine Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and cousin-kissing Democrat Troy Jackson, the voice of God quickly restored the hope of the liberal base tuning in:

CNN NARRATOR: But the battlefield is full of deep-red states that Republicans are scrambling to keep in their column.

TALARICO: Texas is not for sale.

PAXTON: If we lose Texas, we lose America.

SENATOR ROGER MARSHALL (R-KS): It’s time that modern-day patriots stand up.

ADAM HAMILTON: I’m going to fight for the people of Kansas.

The ad footnoted the woefully undercovered races: “Outside Washington, both parties clashing for control in governors races across the country.”

There was one exception in terms of national coverage of governorships, though.

Sure enough, the Ohio race was the only contest to receive mention in the form of a soundbite from Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.

It closed with a liberal flourish (click “expand”):

CNN NARRATOR: And, at the center of it all, a President with everything on the line.

TRUMP: Please pretend I’m on the frickin’ ballot, will ya?

CNN NARRATOR: This is CNN’s coverage of Election Night in America. The fight for control of Congress, the contests for governor, and the direction of the country at stake.

CONGRESSMAN MIKE COLLINS (R-GA): Get out there! Get out there and vote.

OSSOFF: Are you ready to win?

CNN NARRATOR: It’s democracy in action. Voters are choosing. The world is watching, and anything is possible.

To see the relevant CNN transcript from November 3, click here.