CNN’s Chris Cillizza Awkwardly Defends His Contradictory Articles on Trump’s Mental Fitness
On Thursday, CNN’s Chris Cilizza published a piece titled, “The case for Donald Trump’s mental fitness,” while today he wrote another article titled, “Trump’s ‘very stable genius’ tweet shows he isn’t”– a seeming contradiction that commentator Keith Olbermann pointed out.
“Dear @CillizzaCNN. Your piece Thursday was headlined: ‘The case for Donald Trump’s mental fitness.’ Your piece today is headlined: ‘Trump’s ‘very stable genius’ tweet shows he isn’t.’ Your piece Monday should be headlined ‘I, Chris Cillizza, am clueless and I resign.'” Tweeted Olbermann.
Dear @CillizzaCNN. Your piece Thursday was headlined: “The case for Donald Trump’s mental fitness.” Your piece today is headlined: “Trump’s ‘very stable genius’ tweet shows he isn’t.” Your piece Monday should be headlined “I, Chris Cillizza, am clueless and I resign.”
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 6, 2018
Cilizza then awkwardly defended his odd takes by flattering the former ESPN host, throwing out some self-deprecating humor, and attempting to explain his thought process.
1. I loved you on Sportscenter
2. Thursday piece argued there is scant evidence of mental deterioration in office
3. Piece today — which you didn’t read — is about how Trump is no political genius
4. Monday piece is intriguing https://t.co/xlMjfh873x— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 6, 2018
In the actual article defending Trump’s mental state, Cillizza argued that the president isn’t mentally unwell because he’s always been this — even before his tenure in the White House.
“While it’s far from a determinative explanation from Sanders, she does have a point. And the point is this: Trump is who he has always been,” wrote the CNN commentator.
He went on to say that Trump’s “impetuous, erratic, and grandiose” behavior is nothing new, so the characteristics he’s displaying now — and in Michael Wolff’s new crazy book — are just business as usual for him. Meanwhile, in Cillizza’s article today he argued that despite Trump’s tweets claiming he is a “very stable genius,” he is actually no genius.
Though, the writer does bring up Trump’s “mental deterioration” and doesn’t defend the president. “Debating whether he is a) smart b) mentally competent or c) in a state of mental deterioration is a stone-cold loser for him,” wrote Cillizza.
Olbermann wasn’t the first person to call out Cillizza over this contradiction, as the Boston Globe‘s Astead Wesley tweeted screenshots of the CNN writer’s headlines side-to-side and let them speak for itself.
Literally two days apart lmfaooo pic.twitter.com/d7LuRLQJ5L
— Astead (@AsteadWesley) January 6, 2018
[image via screengrab]
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