CNN’s Brian Stelter Deletes Tweet Mocking ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Analogy After SCOTUS Decision Gutting Abortion Rights

CNN Media reporter Brian Stelter deleted a condescending tweet mocking a woman activist for comparing the United States under then-President Donald Trump with the dystopian A Handmaid’s Tale.

In 2018, activist Amy Siskind posted a tweet sounding the alarm about Trump’s policies and saying, “We are a few steps from The Handmaids Tale.”

When Dems take control of the House and hopefully Senate, one of the first things we need Congress to push for is the dismantling of ICE – being used now as Trump’s Gestapo.

— Amy Siskind ?️‍? (@Amy_Siskind) June 26, 2018

Stelter then retweeted Siskind and added by way of reply that ‘We are not “a few steps from The Handmaids Tale.’ I don’t think this kind of fear-mongering helps anybody.”

That tweet was still there on Wednesday, according to The Internet Archive, but has since been deleted — simultaneous with the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision not to block a Texas anti-abortion rights law that effectively guts the protections of Roe v. Wade.

However, Stelter hasn’t (yet) deleted a reply to another user in which he elaborated, “I cover media. I’ve been working on a CNN documentary about Trump and TV. I interviewed one of the Handmaids Tale producers for the doc, and I’ve talked to TV critics about this broader issue. I don’t think it’s an opinion to point out that America is not Gilead, nor is it close.”

I cover media. I’ve been working on a CNN documentary about Trump and TV. I interviewed one of the Handmaids Tale producers for the doc and I’ve talked to TV critics about this broader issue. I don’t think it’s an opinion to point out that America is not Gilead, nor is it close.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 26, 2018

As the ratio indicates, Stelter’s original tweet was not well-received by Twitter users at the time.

About a year after that tweet, in June of 2019, Stelter seemed more amenable to the comparison when he interviewed Handmaid’s producer Warren Littlefield and actor Ann Dowd:

STELTER: And everyone, as they watch Handmaid’s Tale, thinks about what’s happening in this country right now. How close or how far do you think America really is to the fictional hellscape of Gilead?

DOWD: A heck of a lot closer than we were season one, which is terrifying.

STELTER: Only a couple of years ago, and the country has gone backwards.

Watch above via CNN.