2020 election

Down to the last few days before the election, CNN’s Kasie Hunt has dropped any pretense of even-handedness, and has let her pro-Kamala flag fly.

Three days ago, we caught Kasie saying that Trump-hater par excellence David Frum’s attacks on Trump were “correct.”

Today, Hunt was clearly worried by Trump’s entertaining, attention-attracting moves of working in a McDonald’s and riding shotgun in a garbage truck. She insisted instead that voters focus on Trump’s history of election denial and hints that he might do it again this year.

Hunt insisted that the garbage truck/McD’s events were:

“Designed to get us to look away from what we shouldn’t ignore. To distract from what Trump is saying about what happens after polls close on Tuesday.”

Hunt then rolled clips of Trump responding to questions as to whether, if he lost, he’d recognize the results of the election. But whereas Hunt was surely trying to suggest that Trump would refuse to accept a defeat, his answers did little to support her hypothesis.

To the contrary, Trump told one reporter that whereas there had been some “smaller” election misconduct in Pennsylvania, “I think it’s been taken care of.”

And when another reporter asked if he’d accept the results of the election, he replied: “Sure. It’s a fair election.”

Trump’s response was in line with what Democrats are saying. Indeed, some of them are going even further, as Axios reports, suggesting that Trump is planning to cheat.

Thus, Dem Rep. Jamie Raskin has said that if Trump “won a free, fair and honest election, then we would obviously accept it.” However, Raskin said he “definitely” doesn’t assume that Trump would use free, fair and honest means to secure a victory. Trump “is doing whatever he can to try to interfere with the process.”
Along similar lines, “Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a senior chief deputy whip who voted to object to George W. Bush electors in 2005, said of Trump, ‘I don’t know what kind of shenanigans he is planning,’ adding: ‘We would have to, in any election … make sure that all the rules have been followed.'”
And House Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who also objected to Trump electors in 2017, said Democrats would certify a Trump victory “assuming everything goes the way we expect it to.”

Funny how Hunt never mentioned the Democrats’ statements. Instead, Kasie concluded on this ominous note:

“When you’re out on the trail, covering a political campaign — I’ve done a number of them — the job is to report what the campaign is doing. Sure. That’s the part that they want you to see.

“But it’s also to make sure you’re reporting what they don’t want you to cover or pay attention to. Not to miss the forest for the trees.”

Translation: The “trees” that should be disregarded are Trump’s photo-ops. The “forest” to which attention must be paid is Trump’s 2020 election denial and his supposed threats to do it again.

Note: Trump isn’t known for self-deprecating humor. So his joking with a rally crowd that he took his aides’ suggestion that he wear the orange vest he had worn in the garbage truck, because it would make him look thinner, was both unusual — and perhaps a sign that he is in the good humor of a man who believes he’s going to win.

Here’s the transcript.

CNN This Morning
10/31/24
6:01 am EDT

KASIE HUNT: Garbage in, garbage out. We are five days from election day in an incredibly tight race where anything could make a difference.

Donald Trump, climbing into a garbage truck. Shall we say, striking visual designed to capitalize on President Biden’s remark that Trump’s supporters are garbage.

DONALD TRUMP: How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.

HUNT: Trump even went onstage at his rally in that bright orange vest.

TRUMP: And they said, it would be unbelievable if you could wear it on stage. I said, there’s no way I’m wearing it onstage. They said, okay, sir. I said, get me my jacket. 

But if you did, you know, it actually makes you look thinner [crowd goes wild.] I said, ooh. And they got me. I said, I want to  wear it onstage.

HUNT:  Biden, of course, has said he was only referring to a single Trump supporter who called Puerto Rico garbage in a joke. 

. . . 

So, this garbage truck thing, not the first time that Donald Trump, the former president, but also the former reality TV star, has produced events to drive a message in a way that’s hard to look away from. That’s the point, right? 

But here’s the thing. These events are also designed to get us to look away from what we shouldn’t ignore. To distract from what Trump is saying about what happens after polls close on Tuesday.

MALE REPORTER: Can you imagine any circumstance under which you would be defeated, but not say that the election was stolen?

TRUMP: If it was a corrupt election, that could happen. But so far we’re doing pretty well. They found a lot of smaller things in Pennsylvania, as you know, and I think they’ve been corrupted. And they’re taking care of it. They were corrupt. They were corrupted. But I think it’s been taken care of.

FEMALE REPORTER: Either way, will you accept the results of the election?

TRUMP: Sure. It’s a fair election.

HUNT: IF it’s a fair election, he says. So, does he think it’s going to be a fair election?

BRIAN KILMEADE: What worries you the most? 

TRUMP: Cheating.

KILMEADE: Which one, though? Which state?

TRUMP: All of them. I mean, they cheat. All of them.

HUNT: All of them, he says. ALL of them!

So when you’re out on the trail, covering a political campaign — I’ve done a number of them — the job is to report what the campaign is doing. Sure. That’s the part that they want you to see.

But it’s also to make sure you’re reporting what they don’t want you to cover or pay attention to. Not to miss the forest for the trees.

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