CNN embraces white nationalist Richard Spencer in shared Trump-hate

CNN tapped white nationalist Richard Spencer to join the Orange Man Bad choir in response to President Trump’s ‘racist’ tweets, proving the enemy of their enemy could be their friend – and uniting the internet against them.

After describing an upwelling of support for Trump from neo-Nazis, white nationalists and other racists over the president’s tweets telling four progressive congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from, CNN’s Jake Tapper wheeled out Spencer to deliver the death blow.

“Many white nationalists will eat up this red meat,” Spencer said scornfully, boasting that he was not “one of them” and calling the routine a “con game.” CNN apparently didn’t catch the implication that Trump wasn’t racist enough for the white nationalist poster child – or didn’t care, since Spencer was throwing Trump under the bus either way.

“He gives us nothing outside of racist tweets, and by racist tweets, I mean tweets that are meaningless and cheap and express the kind of sentiments you might hear from your drunk uncle while he’s watching Hannity,” Spencer snarked.

Twitter erupted. Conservatives frothed at how “the media hate Trump so much they are willing to give a scumbag like Richard Spencer a platform just to get some anti-Trump soundbites.” “They will do anything so they can scream ORANGE MAN BAD at the top of their lungs,” another user observed. 

Others were more amused, suggesting he be called “CNN analyst Richard Spencer” going forward.  “They deserve each other!” one user weighed in. 

Some pointed out that CNN had just earned itself a ban from Facebook – assuming the platform follows its own rules on removing all white nationalist content, that is –  while others observed that the move “will make it more challenging henceforth for the network to complain about Fox News booking…well, just about anyone.” Plenty of users called out the outlet’s “hypocrisy.” 

A former CNN producer was livid, calling for “whoever made this shameful decision” to be fired. “There is literally nothing Richard Spencer brings to the conversation,” he tweeted. And some wondered if ratings were to blame.

Some even began to suspect Jake Tapper of harboring white nationalist sympathies himself,  accusing the network of “normalizing extremism.” Tapper’s sympathy for Antifa-battered reporter Andy Ngo was held up as proof of his white supremacist tendencies – even though Ngo is Asian.

CNN’s editorial decision looks particularly odd in light of the fact that the broadcaster had previously criticized RT for inviting Spencer on air to comment on events in Libya in 2017.

We admit that the non-obvious choice of Spencer to speak on this topic raised questions for us, but Tapper was particularly loud in his criticism. How ironic, that two years later, Tapper himself invited Spencer on air to criticize Trump. Apparently any expert is suitable for these purposes.

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