What Debate Was Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, and Abby Phillip Watching?

Or, What the Hell Happened to CNN?

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For those of us who saw the CBS Vice Presidential debate just tonight:

At best for Vance, the debate was a draw according to CNN’s own Instant Poll. Vance was more polished, while Walz spoke plainly in the Minnesota Nice style he has accustomed himself to in his entire career. They both were heated and went into it on policy, even when Vance steered clear of answering a number of questions on various issues.

The debate likely did not change the trajectory of the election long term, or even short term.

But if you turned on CNN after the debate, you would have thought Governor Walz bombed and Senator Vance steamrolled over his opponent. I hope the TV clips are posted on YouTube later tonight for all to see.

What debate were they watching? Were the anchors and commentators like Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, and Abby Phillip watching the same debate that I did with my fellow classmates and peers at Providence College, in which the classmates mocked and laughed at the Ohio Senator? Did they not see the CBS debate where Walz went hard at Vance on abortion, on gun safety, on tariffs, on the climate crisis and the environment. On Obamacare, and particularly on the legitimacy of the 2020 election results (which Vance was caught with a deer in the headlight look, with Walz scoring a vicious right hook.) In contrast, Vance had to bring up heating costs in his closing statement out of desperation, because he was unable to deliver the message on inflation effectively.

But I think this really isn’t about how Walz really did at the debate. I think people like Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, with their experience and intelligence, are too smart to believe the Kool Aid that came out from the CNN ecosystem. It’s something bigger.

David Zaslav heads the company, Warner Bros., that owns CNN, or the Corporate News Network. We know CNN is not offering fair coverage of this election. We know that because CNN’s head in Mr. Zaslav said publicly earlier this year that he wanted a President who would allow him to consolidate the media industry further with mergers & acquisitions (M&As). And we know what that means. He’s complaining about policies being implemented by the Biden White House, and so he wants the Trump White House to do his bidding to deregulate the corporate media.

David Zaslav effectively endorsed Donald Trump with his comments. He thumbed the scale for the CNN staff to follow his each and every word.

Face it. CNN also wants Trump for more TV ratings, regardless of the danger he poses to our system. And they sure could use it with their declining ratings. They have been reeling since the old moniker of the Clinton News Network has stuck with them, much to their chagrin. In an effort to expand their dwindling audience, they have clearly attempted to lean towards accommodating the Republican positions.

CNN has covered Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign comments extensively, and the concerns of the economy under the Biden White House. You know what they haven’t brought up much? Project 2025, or the broken promises of Trump on all kinds of issues.

CNN displaced hardcore journalists like John King, and fired others like John Harwood, who were more balanced, and thus critical, of Trump’s lies and conspiracies.

CNN has a monstrous catalog of negative stories of Harris & Walz that outmatches the coverage put on Trump & Vance.

CNN’s attacks on Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Tim Walz are not coincidental. It is part of their corporate agenda, as unabashedly stated by Zaslav.

And this is not new. Remember CBS News sexual predator Les Moonves said in 2016 a Trump election would be good for his company’s ratings.

I don’t say this lightly, and trust me having been it in the wringer against the US Commerce Secretary herself. But that is the reality. Sadly, the corporate media, with its overwhelming obsession with profit over fact-based, hardcore journalism, is not your father’s media.

So be warned Democrats. The corporate media, Sinclair, Nexstar, Gannett, etc. has a clear agenda to aid Donald Trump while continually criticizing Harris for her “failure” to do interviews, all while Trump will not sit for one legitimate news outlet interview.

As for us, it’s time to show we deserve better. We need to start boycotting media outlets whose missions and agendas have departed from the core values we need them to have. And the Corporate News Network is at the top of that list now.

P.S. Kudos to Margaret Brennan for her hard-hitting questions and follow ups.