Corporate media’s efforts to downplay the left-wing riots continue apace.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo launched a clumsy, mostly unintelligible effort this week to blame President Trump for the violence in Portland, where the federal government has deployed officers to protect federal property. Nearly as embarrassing as Cuomo’s attempt to run interference for the Portland rioters is that he also claimed he knew what he was talking about when he demanded in June for someone to “show me where it says that protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful.”
“This isn’t about calling out men and women being sent in [to Portland]. It’s about the man sending them in. President Trump is making bad trouble,” Cuomo said, referring to the late Rep. John Lewis’s use of the term “good trouble” to refer to civil rights-style demonstrations. “[Trump] says the federal forces are protecting federal property from violent anarchists. Local officials say they didn’t ask. Local officials say they’re making it worse.”
“So, what’s gained?” Cuomo continued. “Well, for Trump, we know what it is. This perverse pandering to white Americans about law and order. For the rest of us, nothing is gained. When you abuse your power, you hurt your power. You hurt all of us. Bad trouble. Same goes for the president’s will he or won’t he relationship with masks. Bad trouble.”
What? How did we get to masks from Portland?
“Yesterday,” Cuomo continued, the president “chucked MAGA hats into a crowd of supporters in Jersey. Why didn’t he toss masks? Why didn’t he even wear one? Why not? That’s the question. That would have been good trouble. A week ago, he called wearing a mask patriotic. Now, who knows. Bad trouble.”
Did the teleprompter break? Or was Cuomo winging his monologue?
Cuomo went on, addressing his much-mocked demand to know where it says that protesters need to be peaceful.
“I was borrowing from brother Lewis when I said ‘who says protests is supposed to be peace and quiet and polite,’” he said, adding, “I know it says peaceful in the First Amendment.”
Did he, though? Considering he believes incorrectly that the federal government can ban hate speech based on the “fighting words” exception to the Supreme Court’s decision in the 1942 case Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, it is unclear as to whether Cuomo actually grasps the meaning of the language of the First Amendment.
“What’s the difference? Between good trouble and what? Bad trouble,” Cuomo’s rambling monologue continued. “It’s a test of where the trouble leads. Yeah, that’s right. Ends and means … Not the riots. Not touching to hurt. Not touching to destroy. That is criminal. That’s not what Lewis did. And that’s not what he was espousing. And cheapening what we’re seeing now. By those abhorrent acts is really bad trouble at work. You are ignoring the reality, and you are picking on the aberrations for bad reason.”
“John Lewis put his life on the line for the good fight,” the host concluded. “He made good trouble. There’s a difference between that and what we see with this president. And that difference means everything to our future.”
None of that made any sense. It is like watching a child try to fake his way through an oral exam.
