Isn't this special? CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper has finally noticed that one of the two major political parties in the United States is full of people that constantly tell blatant lies. I hate to break it to Tapper, but this phenomenon didn't start this week.
Tapper wrapped up his show this Sunday with this lament about the sheer number of easily disprovable lies told by Republicans over the last week:
Tapper proceeded to rip GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for repeating the debunked lie that Biden's climate plan will limit Americans' hamburgers to one a month, Ronna Don't-Call-Me-Romney McDaniel for repeating the debunked lie about Kamala Harris' book being handed out to children at migrant facilities at the border, and Trump for repeating lies about the election being stolen from him during a pathetic 30-second video that was posted on Twitter this Friday.
Tapper asked his viewers if they would “like to imagine a house Republican leader who didn't find it so easy to lie to the American people” before complaining that “too many leaders of the GOP are just all in on pure nonsense,” and added this after showing the clip of Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Look at the polls showing that almost half of Republican voters will likely refuse to get vaccinated, while Republican leaders with zero medical expertise, zero... such as Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, take to the airwaves to contradict health experts urging vaccinations.
After playing video of RoJo saying that “because it is not a fully proved vaccine, I think we probably should have limit the the distribution to the vulnerable,” Tapper tore into him as well.
The answer to that would be “Yes” Jake. Johnson and the propagandists on Fox “news” and Republicans in general have been doing everything humanly possible to get as many Americans sick since day one of this pandemic, but thanks for noticing that RoJo may not have their best interests at heart over a year later.
Tapper went on to opine over the fact that the “incentive structure in the Republican party does not punish those who spread bad medical advice or lies. In fact, quite the opposite. Telling the truth as a Republican official can be hazardous to your political health,” before playing a clip of Mitt Romney being booed by Utah Republicans at the party's state convention, and discussing the attacks on Liz Cheney for daring to tell the truth about the MAGA sedition riot on January 6th and voting to impeach Trump.
Tapper wrapped things up by stating what's been obvious to any of us who have been paying attention to how Republicans conduct business for decades now:
No, we don't, and it started long, long before this week. They'd also have a lot more trouble pushing “downright falsehoods, lies, inventions” and “utter nonsense” into mainstream politics if networks like yours either quit putting them on the air to lie in the first place, or did a better job of calling out those lies in real time if you're going to allow them on as guests.
And hiring liars for the sake of “balance” like Rick Santorum, for instance, who is still somehow employed by CNN is just as unhealthy for the political dialog in the United States as the lies being told over on Fox that you're complaining about here.