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KO Nails It: CNN Puts Ratings Over Democracy [1]

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Date: 2023-05-02  

One More Hour of This, Thanks to CNN....

There’s a hilarious moment in the Peter Cook-Dudley Moore “Frog and Peach” sketch. Cook is interviewing Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling (or is it Greeb-Streebling?), the world’s most inept restauranteur, on his latest catastrophe….

Dudley Moore: Do you feel you've learnt by your mistakes here? Peter Cook: I think I have, yes, and I think I can probably repeat them almost

perfectly.

CNN has decided to repeat its mistakes from the 2016 election as accurately as possible. Rather than frame Donald Trump for what he is—proven seditionist, fascist, authoritarian, danger to democracy—CNN is handing Trump an hour in prime time to enjoy a tongue-bath from his worst enablers.

The facts:

CNN APPROACHED TRUMP ABOUT GETTING INTO BUSINESS. CNN clearly thinks it has a chance to peel off some MAGAheads who are enraged about Fox’s decapitation of Tucker Carlson.

CNN HAS CHOSEN A TOWN HALL FORMAT...which means no journalists allowed. Which means the questions (from GOPers only, 63% of whom think Joe Biden stole the 2020 election) will range from, “How can we defeat the woke mob that stole the election from you?” to “How soon will you put the members of the January 6 Committee in federal prison?”

CNN WILL DO NO REAL-TIME FACT CHECKING. This will, by design, be a straight shot of pure Trumpiness

Here’s the great K.O. from today’s must-listen podcast:

Chris Licht’s transformation of CNN into Trump’s journalistic whorehouse is now complete. He and other CNN executives have NEGOTIATED the terms by which Trump will PERMIT them to cover him. Licht gives Trump a free live hour+ of a “Town Hall” next week in New Hampshire. The ONLY questions will be from those voting in the GOP Primary and CNN will exercise no editorial control. It’s a program-length advertisement for a seditious madman.

David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo picks up the story…

But unlike a sit-down interview – which can be recorded and edited, presented in context, coupled with fact-checking and expert commentary – the live “town hall” format (unless CNN unexpectedly mixes up the usual form) enables Trump and those like him free rein to spew misinformation, falsehoods, and half-truths unhindered by any mediating journalistic considerations.

This is what we’re up against, folks. Remember when the Chairman of CBS, back in 2016, said of Trump’s nomination…

It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. The money’s rolling in, and this is fun. It’s a terrible thing to say. But bring it on, Donald. Keep going.

These people don’t give a damn about America. If we lose our democracy and America becomes a totalitarian state—something the Trumpistas are working 24/7 to bring about—, they’ll be counting their profits….right up until the moment when Trump shuts them down or turns them over to plutocratic billionaires who support him.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/2/2167092/-KO-Nails-It-CNN-Puts-Ratings-Over-Democracy

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