Brian Stelter

In the wake of Michael Avenatti’s conviction for extortion, CNN has been getting some backlash for its fawning all over the creepy porn lawyer, despite plenty of evidence to suggest what a dirtbag he was.

Need we be reminded of how they even pumped him up as a potential presidential candidate, as the one who could truly take on President Donald Trump?

Here are some examples of just how much the media embraced this creep, devoting hours of programming time to him, largely because he attacked Trump.

Supercut of the MSM gushing over Michael Avenatti 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/vHHrnBc5s1

— Steve Wright (@steveAKAslick) April 13, 2019

Michael Avenatti was talked about as a serious 2020 presidential contender less than 12 months ago pic.twitter.com/O6RxykJLAz

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 14, 2020

His presence on cable news? You put him there.

“Like the Holy Spirit”: @ananavarro – lifelong GOP operative, supporter of contra terrorism, and #Resistance hero – about (and to) Michael Avenatti pic.twitter.com/ygNNa8b7hl

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 15, 2020

Except CNN commentator Ana Navarro hasn’t been “GOP” anytime recently.

So in the wake of the backlash after the conviction, CNN’s Brian Stelter asked his panel including Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng — both from The Daily Beast — to evaluate how he had approached the coverage of Avenatti. “Was that stupid on my part?” Stelter asked. Pro tip? Yes.

So what did they do? Blame Trump, of course.

.@brianstelter asked @lachlan if it was stupid on Stelter's part to suggest Michael Avenatti could be a serious presidential candidate: pic.twitter.com/xePDmspPLe

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 16, 2020

Markay claimed that one of the “weird and distressing” things Trump has done is to “Trumpify” his opposition as well. Markay claimed that Avenatti was in many ways “very similar to Trump,” that he knew how to operate in the media environment and Trump critics thought he could beat Trump at his own game.

Asawin Suebsaeng sums it up at the end: we covered it because we thought it was “getting in the President’s head.”

Because that’s how CNN and other media judge what is newsworthy: is the person anti-Trump, no matter how delusional or ridiculous that person is or how stupid it is to feature him. (Yes, Brian, it was stupid).

Every normal person knew what a slimy character he was. You didn’t care, Brian, because it served your narrative.

Avenatti appeared on CNN and MSNBC 108 times between March and May of last year and 254 times across all cable and network news Between February 2018 and February 2019. It’s likely that most, if not all, of these appearances were invites, not his initiative.

— neontaster (@neontaster) May 24, 2019

But how silly right? It’s all because of Trump that we gave this fool airtime.

Ask me again how anyone takes CNN seriously?