It felt like one step forward, two steps back for CNN last week, with the supposed efforts of their new leadership to become a more fair, balanced, and respectable news operation. After decades of Democrat Party advocacy coupled with staggeringly bad ratings, the clownish network fired beleaguered host Brian Stelter, and permanently cancelled his "Reliable Sources" program.
Stelter had long been a point of embarrassment for CNN, with "highlight reels" of his epically bad takes and awkward commentaries regularly going viral through social media. Montages like this:
So for CNN's new president Chris Licht, who has reportedly begged Republican lawmakers to begin accepting invitations onto his network's programs again, canning Stelter was a necessary first step to regaining credibility.
Yet just one day after that news appeared promising, the network tweeted this out:
The satisfaction that came from observing the Twitter ratio that pathetic take received doesn't even begin to compare with the bewilderment of how rational, supposedly serious people could craft that tweet and punch send. Gas prices have skyrocketed under a Biden administration whose policies only furthered the near $4 spike. When the climb stopped and prices eased back a few cents - still multiple dollars more per gallon than consumers were paying when Biden took office - CNN shamelessly tried to spin that minimal relief as a $100 a month gift from Uncle Joe. Incredible.
In light of that horrendous inconsistency, why do I get a gut feeling that CNN is about to replace "Reliable Sources" with some sort of "fact-check" program, anchored by The Washington Post's fact-checker extraordinaire Glenn Kessler? I have no evidence to support that guess other than to say it would be a dream match-up for both network and newsman, who seem equally committed to propping up this progressive train wreck occurring in D.C.
Consider Kessler's audition his recent performance, where he took up the controversial decision by the federal government to appropriate millions more in tax dollars for the hiring and equipping of 87,000 new IRS agents charged with stalking the Venmo and PayPal accounts of American citizens.
First of all, let's just acknowledge the horrible optics in the midst of a looming recession to (1) spend more tax money in order to (2) ensure you squeeze every penny out of struggling American households and small businesses.
Secondly, notice Kessler's line, "the stated goal." Yes, Mr. Kessler, we know the government's "stated goal." That isn't in question. We know the government isn't going to come out with a "stated goal" of harassing middle to low income Americans about whether they accurately reported their tips as income. The job of a "fact-checker" is to compare the government's "stated goal" against past practice and common sense to see if what they're saying is accurate.
And this one fails the common sense test big time. Contrary to Kessler's tweet, it defies logic that the government would need massive amounts of new appropriations simply to replace outgoing agents at the department. These are new agents, new training, new roles, new responsibilities. And while the government claims those duties will focus on millionaires and billionaires, everyone – except perhaps for Glenn Kessler – knows better.
If he's looking for confirmation, there's a country full of middle and lower class Americans who can testify to having been harassed and hassled by IRS audits, all while those millionaires and billionaires enjoy immunity provided by multiple layers of lawyers and accountants.
It's inconceivable that someone with the resources and responsibility of Glenn Kessler can fail to know this, meaning the most likely explanation for his "fact-check" is intentional, willful blindness. "Intentional, willful blindness" - precisely why I fully expect to see him manning Stelter's vacated post before you know it.
