CNN: Proudly not letting facts get in the way of anything regarding Donald Trump since 2015.
On Tuesday, the former president and current 2024 Republican front-runner appeared on Fox News for a town hall with Sean Hannity in which he made a comment that the establishment media jumped on. (If Joe Biden had made it, of course, every headline would start with “Conservative Media Pounce …”)
The remark came as Hannity asked Trump about media claims that he would abuse the power of the presidency if he won a second term.
“They want to call you a dictator. … I want to be very, very clear on this,” the Fox News host said. “To be clear, do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if re-elected president, to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people –”
“You mean like they’re using right now,” Trump interjected.
“In the history of our country, what’s happened to us, again, has never happened before, over nonsense, over nothing, made-up charges,” the former president said, referring to the multiple criminal charges he is facing.
Hannity pressed further, saying, “Under no circumstances — you are promising America tonight — you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”
“Except for day one,” Trump said.
“Meaning?” the Fox News host said.
“I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill,” the former president said.
“That’s not retribution,” Hannity said.
“I love this guy,” Trump said. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said, ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.'”
“That sounds to me that you’re going back to the policies when you were president,” the Fox News host said.
“That’s exactly right,” Trump said, laughing.
Trump: "He says 'you're not going to be a dictator are you?' I said no no no, other than Day 1. We're closing the border, and we're drilling drilling drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator." pic.twitter.com/SZU6KiYd2l
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 6, 2023
Naturally, the headlines were insipid. The U.K.’s Guardian: “Trump says he will be a dictator only on ‘day one’ if elected president.” NBC News: “Trump makes dictator comment on Fox News town hall.”
But CNN’s “New Day” took the proverbial cake during a Wednesday discussion, when — even after a guest pointed out a selectively edited clip being used to support the idea Trump had called himself a dictator — the hosts insisted that it properly represented what the former president said.
The only part that was played on the show was where Trump responded by saying, “Except for day one … I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill …We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, after that I’m not a dictator.”
Co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Alayna Treene played the clip, sans context, and predictably hyperventilated.
“Donald Trump, I think, made clear on his remarks about ‘I’d only be a dictator on day one’ exactly what President Biden is talking about in terms of preserving democracy,” Harlow said. (Because yes, canceling oil leases and preserving open borders for nakedly cynical reasons is “preserving democracy” now.)
Republican strategist Lee Carter — a guest on the program — pointed out the selective editing and the lack of context.
“Well, to be fair, that soundbite, out of context, is terrifying, but when you hear what he was trying to say overall, he was kind of, sort of, like, as some communicators do, leaning into criticism and say, ‘I’ll only be a dictator in as much as I’m going to close the borders and I’m going to start drilling for oil again, after that, no, I promise you I’m not going to do anything,'” Carter said.
So then, after positing that the misguiding quote was indicative of what Trump truthfully said, Harlow implied that they should be believed about what Trump really meant.
“Are you saying people shouldn’t believe him?” Harlow asked. “Look at the policies he’s laid out.”
“Well, what I’m saying is I don’t think that what he meant to say was, ‘I am really going to be a dictator in that moment,’” Carter said. “That’s not what he was saying. He was saying, ‘I’m going to be a dictator on day one under these two terms.’
“And I think the American people, and certainly his supporters, aren’t going to hear him as saying, ‘I was going to be a dictator.’ This is very much like in 2016, everybody said he’s an outsider, he’s got no experience, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m an outsider with no experience. I’m gonna blow things up in D.C.’ He’s got that kind of a way about him –“
“And he did,” Harlow interrupted.
“He did,” Carter acknowledged. “And that’s what people like about him, by the way.”
This morning CNN guest Lee Carter called out the network for deceptively portraying @realDonaldTrump comments made during the Fox News town hall, noting it's being portrayed "out of context."
Read more here: https://t.co/HEJuw3EiJo@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/UZXZvoIv4e
— Brianna Lyman (@briannalyman2) December 6, 2023
In other words, Republicans pounce!
Thank heavens we have CNN and other liberal outlets to set us straight by misleading us in the right direction. If it weren’t for them, we might be able to make decisions on our own, and that’s not what “preserving democracy” is about. Instead, listen to Poppy Harlow, and listen well.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt if you listened to Joe Biden uncritically, too. And every other Democrat not named Joe Manchin or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. That’s all that’s needed to preserve democracy.
Oh yeah, and vote only for Democrats, because the essence of democracy and preservation is one man, one-vote-one-party. It’s that simple.
And anyone who doesn’t believe those lies is a liar.
via westernjournal