Trump Mocks CNN Putting ‘A Clamp’ on Big Lie: ‘I Think They Realized It Wasn’t a Big Lie’
Ex-president Donald Trump said on Saturday that CNN has “put a clamp” on the term “The Big Lie” and credited that to the network “realizing” that his election lies are not actually lies.
“You ever see where they say the big lie? That was no lie. The big lie was what they were doing,” said Trump, as he often has at his rallies. “That was the big lie.”
Trump then said that CNN is bringing the use of the term to a halt.
“In fact, a big story from two days ago, that CNN has put a clamp on ever using the term The Big Lie,” said Trump, “Because I think they’re worried about the legal liability of using that term, because I think they realize it wasn’t a big lie.”
“They’re not allowed to use the term the big lie on fake news CNN anymore,” he said.
Contrary to Trump’s retelling, the actual news, which Mediaite broke, was not that CNN put a clamp on “ever using the term.”
As Mediaite editor Aidan McLaughlin reported on Wednesday, new CNN president Chris Licht “discouraged” staff from using the term. And far from avoiding the implication of untruth, his suggested alternatives included “Trump election lie” or just simply “election lies.”
There was no concern about “legal liability” either. Just the specter of partisanship.
According to a source, Licht argued that using “the big lie” makes the mistake of adopting branding used by the Democratic Party, thereby weakening the objectivity of the network.
That is a very good reason to get rid of the term. CNN would do well to stop adopting DNC talking points whole cloth. There are other good reasons not to use the term.
But those reasons to not use the term have nothing to do with CNN realizing that Trump was somehow right all along. So Trump lied about CNN calling his lies a lie. Makes sense, I guess?
