Now that the transition has officially begun for the Biden administration, it’s time for the media to reassess and retract invitations for Donald Trump sycophants to appear on television who cast doubt on the outcome of the election. Take Ari Melber’s conversation with Trump attorney Jenna Ellis on Monday afternoon for example. Mediaite called it an “absurd interview:”
Appearing on MSNBC on Monday just hours after Michigan certified Biden won that state, Ellis baselessly insisted that her legal team would overturn the election’s results and repeatedly clashed with host Ari Melberwhen he confronted her with the reality of Biden’s massive margin of victory and the dozens of failed election lawsuits she and other Trump surrogates have suffered.
At one point Ellis stated, “President Trump won by a landslide.” And we say “enough.” It’s time to cut the oxygen from these baseless defenders of Trump’s lies. We’ve have four years. We’re done.
Chuck Todd is also being criticized for an interview with Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) that Raw Story called a “malfeasance of journalism:”
Among the lies Rep. Cramer spewed in just 21 seconds: The Obama administration spied on Donald Trump, the Mueller Russia investigation “started with no evidence and ended proving that there was no evidence,” and the impeachment of the President was “crazy.”
The report points out Cramer “spewed other lies, with no pushback from Todd, including: Joe Biden has not yet won the election, Trump ‘is just exercising his legal options,’ and Biden has been “over-dramatic.”
Now as many of Trump’s mouthpieces will soon find themselves looking for another job, we would discourage TV networks from hiring them. While we’re all for opposing voices, that is not what this is about. Spewing lies into a media ecosystem already polluted with disinformation is the last thing we need. It wasn’t so long ago that Kayleigh McEnany worked as a commentator for CNN.
While Donald Trump is in office for 57 more days, perhaps a better use of airtime would be to look to the future. There’s plenty that needs to be done, and certainly plenty from the last four years that needs to be undone. The babble from those closest to Trump suddenly feels small, weak and even a little bit pathetic. We’re under no illusion that Trump-think will disappear on January 20th. But giving oxygen to election conspiracy theorists needs to stop. Now.
*This piece contains opinion and analysis