As RedState readers are well aware, it's a prerequisite at this point for reporters in the mainstream media to have the ability to straight-up gaslight, and that goes double in a crucial election year when a political figure on their team is either in trouble with voters or otherwise desperately needs their help.

We saw it often, for instance, during the Antifa/Black Lives Matter-led riots in the summer of 2020, where terms like "peaceful protesters" and "mostly peaceful protests" were used even when the backdrop for those news reports told us a much different story.

This was one of their more infamous moments:

MSNBC reporter just now: "I want to be clear on how I characterize this. This is mostly a protest. It is not generally speaking unruly."

The guy is literally standing in front of a burning building in the middle of a riot. pic.twitter.com/IzCV6On4sF

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) May 29, 2020

READ MORE: MSNBC's Ali Velshi Turns Into Baghdad Bob in Describing Minneapolis Scene As Fires, Riots Raged Behind Him

MSNBC, as noted above, was right in the thick of it at the time, and unfortunately, they are still at it to this day, though the subject matter has (slightly) changed.

It all started when a clip of former President Donald Trump speaking at the Turning Point USA town hall Thursday in Arizona began making the rounds on the Twitter/X machine. In it, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee talked about the rampant crime sprees we've seen take place in Democrat-run, soft-on-crime states like California where stores are hit by flash mobs who ransack them and run out with bags full of merch - and with no one stopping them in the process.

This prompted MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, a noted Democrat apologist, to declare that such stories weren't true:

This is not true. https://t.co/2649yOSMyp

— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) June 7, 2024

While I don't know of any stories involving air conditioner looting specifically, there are plenty more out there involving other types of looting, which was of course Trump's actual point.

Ruhle got fact-checked pretty quickly:

If only there was like multiple videos of evidence

wild how much these "journalists" just straight up lie https://t.co/5zBGsM95Ie pic.twitter.com/MFOGaKIhjv

— Ahmed Al Asliken 🕋☪️✈️ (@assliken) June 7, 2024

Congrats on missing his point completely. I'm sure stores are locking up BBQ sauce & shampoos because it's just our imagination. pic.twitter.com/egps2Wy5CX

— 𝔻𝕠𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣 𝔽𝕒𝕥𝕖 (@georg3) June 7, 2024

NBC News Senior Business analyst, ladies and gentlemen. https://t.co/YBZlOlFV27 pic.twitter.com/e5uHLzRibF

— JeffHanson (@IronLeagueThug) June 7, 2024

And there's so much more from where that came.

Unfortunately, we're going to see a heckuva a lot more of this - both the crime sprees and the press gaslighting - the closer we get to Election Day. Because Joe Biden has a swing state problem and black/Hispanic voter problems that seem to be getting worse with each passing day. The only way that can change is with the help of the Usual Suspects in the mainstream media - just as they did in 2020.

Flashback: Two Nordstrom Stores Bail From San Francisco, Reasons Cited Should Be a Wake-up Call