The host of CNN’s “New Day” was caught out by a guest who pointed out a selectively edited clip that pushed the ‘anti-Trump’ narrative that he called himself a dictator.
CNN only played part of the clip where Trump responded by saying:
“Except for day one … I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill … We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, after that I’m not a dictator.”
Co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Alayna Treene played the clip.
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This morning CNN guest Lee Carter called out the network for deceptively portraying @realDonaldTrump comments made during the Fox News town hall, noting it's being portrayed "out of context."
— Brianna Lyman (@briannalyman2) December 6, 2023
Read more here: https://t.co/HEJuw3EiJo@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/UZXZvoIv4e
Of course, CNN’s stealth editing helped the leftist media the headlines.
The U.K.’s Guardian: “Trump says he will be a dictator only on ‘day one’ if elected president.”
NBC News: “Trump makes dictator comment on Fox News town hall.”
“Donald Trump, I think, made clear on his remarks about ‘I’d only be a dictator on day one’ exactly what President Biden is talking about in terms of preserving democracy,” Harlow said.
However, the guest on the program, Republican strategist Lee Carter, pointed out the selective editing and the lack of context.
“Well, to be fair, that soundbite, out of context, is terrifying, but when you hear what he was trying to say overall, he was kind of, sort of, like, as some communicators do, leaning into criticism and say, ‘I’ll only be a dictator in as much as I’m going to close the borders and I’m going to start drilling for oil again, after that, no, I promise you I’m not going to do anything,'” Carter said.
After posting that the misguiding quote indicated what Trump said, Harlow said they should be believed about what Trump really meant.
“Are you saying people shouldn’t believe him?” Harlow asked.
Look at the policies he’s laid out.”
“Well, what I’m saying is I don’t think that what he meant to say was, ‘I am really going to be a dictator in that moment,'” Carter said.
“That’s not what he was saying. He was saying, ‘I’m going to be a dictator on day one under these two terms.’
“And I think the American people, and certainly his supporters, aren’t going to hear him as saying, ‘I was going to be a dictator.'”
“This is very much like in 2016, everybody said he’s an outsider, he’s got no experience, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m an outsider with no experience. I’m gonna blow things up in D.C.’ He’s got that kind of a way about him –”
“And he did,” Harlow interrupted.
“He did,” Carter acknowledged.
“And that’s what people like about him, by the way.”
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