Who thought this was a good idea?

In the aftermath of Trump’s comments targeting the self-described “squad,” the media have predictably lost their minds. They’ve never met a hand they aren’t willing to overplay and this is a perfect example of that. CNN’s desperation to fill airtime with nonstop anti-Trump rantings is so pervasive that they decided it’d be a good idea to invite on white nationalist Richard Spencer to play pundit.

This was done on Jake Tapper’s show.

Here's @jaketapper's show giving a platform to Richard Spencer

CNN is so consumed by hatred that it will give WHITE NATIONALISTS a platform if they will say mean things about the Presidentpic.twitter.com/CFQfnpfnSp

— Will Chamberlain 🇺🇸 (@willchamberlain) July 16, 2019

Why do this? The answer is simple.

There is literally no line CNN won’t cross if they feel it gives them fodder to take shots at Donald Trump. If that means bringing on Richard Spencer so CNN can then say “see, see, white nationalists loved Trump’s tweets!” then that’s what they’ll do. Then they’ll repeat the canard that Trump’s supporters are actually white nationalists all throughout prime time. That’s the game.

When you are so desperate to constantly attack Trump that you'll bring on Richard Spencer to tell you what you want to hear.

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) July 16, 2019

https://twitter.com/ag_conservative/status/1151266756666826752?s=21

Giving airtime to Richard Spencer is moronic and it shows there’s nothing too far out of bounds for CNN as long as it pushes an anti-Trump narrative. You don’t give white nationalists a platform just to fulfill selfish partisan goals. An obscure, essentially irrelevant movement just got a shot in the arm because Jake Tapper couldn’t control his Trump delusion.

"Spencer will turn this into a new wave of attention within his own media ecosystem, where CNN has now just legitimated a litany of white supremacists, many of who were relegated to online obscurity." https://t.co/6DHB4yRtM8

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) July 16, 2019

Furthermore, why does CNN even thinks this is relevant? Here was Tapper’s tortured explanation.

.@sarasidnerCNN covers racists and white supremacists for us (among other subjects) and does a great job. She did a taped package for cnn about the reaction of white supremacists to the president’s tweets.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 16, 2019

Ok, but again, why is their reaction even relevant or newsworthy? Did Jake Tapper do a segment with David Duke after he praised Ilhan Omar’s anti-Zionism several months back? Oh, he didn’t? How odd. I mean, if it’s relevant today, why not then?

It is garbage journalism, and I’m constantly assured Jake is indeed a journalist, to try to tie your political opponents to unconnected parties just to slander them. What white nationalists think has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump, Republicans, or the vast majority of his voters. Furthermore, the media never hold Democrats to such ridiculous standards, even when the case to do so is far, far stronger. Rashida Tlaib can repeat Hamas propaganda and CNN doesn’t say a world. Ilhan Omar can call U.S. troops “Satan” and there’s no interview on Jake Tapper’s show with jihadists to see if they agree with her.

But when Trump is involved, here’s CNN to trot out a racist to try to tie his views to all Trump voters.

I’ll end by noting that Jake Tapper is not your friend. I realize a lot of right-wing pundits see him as the token good guy at CNN. He’s the guy they can banter with on Twitter from time to time and feel like they are part of the club. But he’s not a journalist. He’s a left leaning activist just like the rest of the anchors on CNN.

Right now, Tapper has doubled down on this disgraceful appearance. We’ll see if he eventually admits what a monumentally stupid idea this was.

I’ve got a new twitter! Please help by following @bonchieredstate.