CNN's Michael Smerconish isn't the first person, and won't be the last to call what Russia did during the 2016 presidential election "terrorism," but this was apparently a bridge too far for the Trump apologists over on state-run TV this Sunday.
July 15, 2018

CNN's Michael Smerconish isn't the first person, and won't be the last to call what Russia did during the 2016 presidential election "terrorism," but this was apparently a bridge too far for the Trump apologists over on state-run TV this Sunday.

HENRY: So Barack Obama did nothing about the meddling in 2016. The president's tweet is accurate. But you shouldn't let Vladimir Putin off the hook. He was involved in meddling, and these were 12 Russian intelligence officials. It doesn't mean there was collusion. Even Rod Rosenstein said there's no evidence of collusion. However, there is evidence that Vladimir Putin was interfering in our election, right Pete?

HEGSETH: Yeah, there's no doubt. Listen, Russia is not our friend. I don't think president Trump goes into this meeting with naive eyes believing that somehow peace will break out inevitably. However, some of the hyperbole Ed from our so-called mainstream media here in the states. Another network, CNN, a host there, and again, we want to... Russian interference in our elections is a bad thing, but it's over-the-top the way they're characterizing it in many ways Listen to Michael Smerconish yesterday.

[…]

So Ed, terrorism, I can't even liken this to 9/11, but let's remember, Vladimir Putin accused of, you know, assassinating his own former spy in the U.K., attacking and killing. Listen, servers and bitcoin and hiding money to attack our election process –

HENRY: Yeah, he's a bad guy.

HEGSETH: It's a bad thing, but to go to that level seems over-the-top.

HENRY: I think you're right. To call it terrorist attack is extreme. What's more important is for president Trump to acknowledge there is an attack. You want to call it terrorism, it seems like hyperbole, as you said. But Vladimir Putin, let's not disguise, was behind an election attack. I think the president, president Trump, not Putin, but president Trump is right, it didn't affect, as far as we know at this moment, a single vote. Rod Rosenstein said that again, so let's stop that fiction as well, folks on the left.

The bottom line is, let's also look forward, not just backward. We're still talking about 2016. This is, the left can't get past it. Vladimir Putin still wants to attack us in 2018. So let's also focus on that.

First off, it's not true that the Obama administration did nothing, and Fox never seems to want to talk about the fact that Mitch McConnell refused to alert Americans to the Russian meddling prior to the 2016 election.

And second, does anyone believe for one minute Fox wouldn't be saying exactly the same thing as Smerconish if it had been the Democrats who were aided and abetted by the Russians to help Clinton win, instead of the other way around?

And lastly, the network that employs Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and a long list of flame throwers besides those three should really keep quiet when it comes to accusing someone else of hyperbole. It's their bread and butter to keep the Trumpsters worked into a frenzy on a daily basis.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon