They are broken over there at CNN.
Host Christiane Amanpour this week used the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the informal launch of the Holocaust, to compare the Trump administration to the Third Reich.
There is not much more to it than that. The CNN International host realized it is the anniversary this week of the prelude to one of the worst genocides in history, and she figured somewhere in her mind that the occasion would serve well as a platform to launch into a broader prepared statement about Trump’s “modern-day assault” on “truth.”
“This week, 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened,” said Amanpour during her opening monologue, “It was the Nazi’s warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity.”
She continued as images of Nazi book burnings flashed across the screen, saying, “and in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history, and truth. After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden/Harris team pledges a return to norms, including the truth.”
That is what we call a non sequitur — not even a clunky transition from marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht to praising the 2020 Democratic ticket.
“And every day,” Amanpour added, “Joe Biden makes presidential announcements about good governance and the health and security of the American people, while the great brooding figure of his defeated opponent rages, conducting purges of perceived enemies and preventing a transition.”
It is true that Trump, like failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and some other politicians, has refused to concede electoral defeat in a timely manner. But no one can “prevent” the transition. Biden will be the president come January 2021, no matter how uncooperative Trump wants to be. That is one of the many great things about our system of governance. That and the part where we are decidedly not a mirror image of the Third Reich.
Ah, what are we to do with these “truth-telling” CNN “news” gatherers?
