https://twitter.com/andrewjkugle/status/804359162851393537
There’s a CNN clip flying around this morning that has lefties and the media all a flutter. It’s of a bunch of Trump supporters who are convinced that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election with Alisyn Camerota looking on in disbelief.
Watch:
This clip is astounding. Tens of millions of Americans believe these same things. https://t.co/OqK1xtyVub
— Jonathan Merritt (@JonathanMerritt) December 1, 2016
Journalists and liberals, who the public have lost faith in, have been quick to mock the people in the clip rather than report the truth that many people on both sides of the aisle have lost faith in the integrity of the voting system and we have these stories every four years or so.
Where was all the hand-wringing in 2004 when it was Dems who thought the election was rigged? From the Washington Post:
That’s a reverse in skepticism from 2004 when supporters of Democrat John Kerry were far more likely to think votes would not be counted properly than backers of Republican George W. Bush — then, 44 percent of Kerry supporters and just 14 percent of Bush supporters were not confident that votes would be accurately counted.
Anyway, here’s some of the mockery…
Former Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer thins this is the end of America:
Well… at least we can say America had a couple of great centuries, before it all fell apart https://t.co/6PXWNkrgaF
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) December 1, 2016
Rex Huppke from the Chicago Tribune:
People who lack the humility to acknowledge that they don't actually understand something will be the downfall of this country. https://t.co/ysb0rLYWwh
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) December 1, 2016
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza it “super depressing”:
This clip of a Trump supporter insisting there is widespread voter fraud is super depressing https://t.co/GghdNaKYah pic.twitter.com/XUe7iDnDdr
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) December 1, 2016
One of Cillizza’s reader’s challenged him on it, and he responded with snark saying he had no idea “what this means”:
Poor baby. Amazing the things the liberal media has no interest in investigating. https://t.co/no3iIA7olx
— Regulus de Leo (@RegulusdeLeo) December 1, 2016
I just have no ides what this means https://t.co/R0cW5pNP74
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) December 1, 2016
Cillizza’s colleague Philip Bump added more snark:
It means we aren’t investigating all that voter fraud.
— Philip Bump (@pbump) December 1, 2016
Reporter Patrick Klepek mocked the woman who said she read the stat on Facebook:
“It’s on Facebook.” https://t.co/r3ZFWgnvoX
— Patrick Klepek (@patrickklepek) December 1, 2016
The Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor thinks CNN should do more of the embarrassment journalism:
CNN should just do more and more of this. https://t.co/WiYSybO05R
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) December 1, 2016
Oliver Willis called Trump supporters “dumb”:
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/804340926495784960
Verge editor is “stunned”:
https://twitter.com/kwameopam/status/804354783415070720
You get the point.
Also of note, the media has spent the last few years telling us that just because something didn’t happen doesn’t mean it’s not important. Remember “hand up, don’t shoot”?
Guy Benson fact-checks Sally Kohn; Bonus: Kohn calls 'hands up don't shoot' a 'mistake' https://t.co/i34GrRtkXC
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 1, 2015
Voter fraud fears are the same thing. Just because it’s not happening in large numbers doesn’t mean that the perception that it is — by both sides depending on the election year — isn’t doing great damage to our discourse.
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