Dan Abrams Calls Out CNN, MSNBC, and Fox for Hypocrisy on Chaos in Congress: ‘Fanning the Flames Of Division’
NewsNation host Dan Abrams lit into the partisan media on Wednesday night over what he saw as hypocrisy in how cable news hosts both breathlessly condemned the childish antics on Capitol Hill in recent days while at the same time gave those members of Congress praise and a platform.
Abrams, who is the founder of Mediaite, kicked off his segment by playing short clips from Fox News, The View, Fox Business Network, and CNN condemning the recent chaos in Congress. “Choose your word: fiasco, circus, mess. This is your US Congress at work,” says CNN’s Poppy Harlow.
“While most are focused on the circus animals going rogue, I want to focus on the ringmaster: The partisan media,” Abrams began. He added:
Because without the partisan media enabling them and even encouraging it the —I guess — dancing bears in Congress might stay in their cages. You see, members of Congress are incentivized by the partizan media to act this way. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s more overt. But whether they admit it or not, the partisan media wants the division and the rancor we see on Capitol Hill these days. They feed off it. It is so hypocritical, so many holier-than-thou cable news hosts come off like they’re offended by these ridiculous antics.
They make it sound like they pined for the days where Robert’s Rules of Order reigned supreme. While the partisan media is clutching their pearls in one hand, they’re carrying a billy club in the other. And with the media fanning the flames of division in Congress, we get days like yesterday where our political leaders act like Maury Povich guests in a trio of crazy incidents.
Abrams then quickly runs through the recent incidents in which former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) allegedly elbowed another Republican in the kidneys, Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) hurled insults at each other during a hearing, and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) challenged a union boss to a fist-fight during a separate hearing.
“Now, here’s what I’m not going to do, Right? I’m not going to sit here, wag my finger at these guys for their ridiculous behavior,” Abrams continued, adding:
The partisan media on both sides are also responsible for the craziness we saw yesterday. Consider that instead of being condemned for those ridiculous displays in Senator Mullin’s case, he took a victory lap on cable news after his near throwdown with a congressional witness. He sat down for interviews with four cable news outlets, and most of them he received a hero’s welcome.
Abrams then played a clip of Sen. Mullin with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, who praised the Republican and predicted his popularity will “go up tenfold as a result.”
“He may be right, but a big reason why is that Sean Hannity is rubber-stamping this conduct for his audience,” Abrams noted.
The segment went on to mention that Rep. Moskowitz received a similar treatment from MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
Abrams noted that MSNBC treated “Moskowitz like a bystander rather than an active participant.”
“And what’s Moskowitz to take from this whole incident?” Abrams asked, concluding:
If you bait your Republican colleagues, you’re rewarded with prime time MSNBC hits and often glowing coverage from the hosts. Look, I don’t want to try to absolve the principals here from responsibility and maybe some of this crazy behavior we now see from political leaders in particular on the right, maybe traced back to Donald Trump. Who knows?
But the partisan media in particular want to pretend they’re just here to observe when in reality they can’t get enough of this stuff. They’re encouraging it. They’re celebrating it. And that probably means we’re only going to see more of it.
Watch the full clip above via NewsNation.
