CNN’s John Avlon Decries Flood of GOP ‘Hyperpartisan Cowards and Cranks’

On Wednesday’s Neue Day show, CNN’s  John Avlon delivered another of his “Realty Check” segments which are often more about promoting liberal spin to attack conservatives than at attempt to be factually accurate. 

CNN referred to it as an example of how the “center can take power back form the extremes”, as though CNN were in the middle.

CNN’s liberal analyst criticized the GOP for mainly naming “hyperpartisan cowards, and cranks”.

Co-host Brianna Kilar began the segment by reminding Avlon that Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s Congresswoman, lost the Republican primary due to her participation with the January Six Committee.

How exactly did Trump’s election lies become the GOP litmus test? Well, look no further than the low turnout partisan primaries because it forces power to the extremes, often elevating the most play-to-the-base candidates and punishing principled independents. That, in turn, floods our political system with hyperpartisan cowards and cranks.

Without citing evidence, he then claimed that his pet topic of gerrymandering is to blame for the inability to get four moderate Republicans to run for reelection.

Just take a look at the fates of the 10 House GOP members who had the spine to stand up to Donald Trump’s election lies by voting for his impeachment. Well, their political hides are being paraded as a cautionary tale among conservatives to cow others into silence. But this was not the definitive verdict it might seem on the surface. See, four of them declined to run for re-election, largely because they faced tough races amid the rigged system of redistricting.

Avlon argued that anti-Trump Republicans David Valadao & James Newhouse were renominated by California’s unusually nonpartisan primaries. Independent and Democrat cross-voting voters can help moderate GOP candidates. He then cited Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, for their past history of running independent after their parties had rejected them. Avlon suggested that other disaffected Republicans do the same.

Avlon blaming the “rigged system” for drawing electoral districts to allow four anti-Trump Republicans to not run for reelection reflexively is an absurd claim. A close examination reveals that it has very little merit.

Michigan’s Fred Upton opted not to run for reelection in a state where an independent commission redrew the districts for the first time, so there was no partisan gerrymandering involved. Ironically, Upton’s anti-Trump counterpart Peter Meijer could have been elected if they had controlled the process. However, the Republican legislature might have made less changes to Upton’s district. But the independent commission made major changes that forced him to enter new territory.

Additionally, Michigan’s state law gives voters the right to vote regardless of whether the candidates are from different parties. This means that independents as well as Democrats can vote in either party’s primary elections.

New York Congressman John Katko retired in January, while the bipartisan state commission was trying to determine a plan. Finaly, the court executed a plan drawn in non-partisan fashion.

And in Ohio, Anthony Gonzalez announced his retirement last September at a time when a bipartisan commission was trying to draw new lines for his state, and two months before the Republican legislature ultimately redrew districts that were slanted toward protecting Republican incumbents.

Adam Kinzinger was not the Republican to have his retirement decision linked to gerrymandering. That was done by Democrats in Illinois. CNN had notably downplayed the importance of Democrat gerrymandering last year when it covered Kinzinger’s retirement announcement. Instead, they blamed Donald Trump.

The latest misleading and biased “Reality Check”, was partially sponsored byWhole Foods 

These transcripts are available:

CNN’s Neue Day

August 17, 2022

Eastern: 7:54 am

BRIANNA KEILAR: So perhaps the chief critic of former President Trump in Congress, Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, has conceded defeat in her primary against election denier Harriet Hageman. Cheney is the latest Republican to lose in a hyperpartisan primary season for speaking out against Trump’s election lies. John Avlon presents a “Reality Check”

JOHN AVLON: How exactly did Trump’s election lies become the GOP litmus test? Well, look no further than the low turnout partisan primaries because it forces power to the extremes, often elevating the most play-to-the-base candidates and punishing principled independents. That, in turn, floods our political system with hyperpartisan cowards and cranks.

Just take a look at the fates of the 10 House GOP members who had the spine to stand up to Donald Trump’s election lies by voting for his impeachment. Well, their political hides are being paraded as a cautionary tale among conservatives to cow others into silence.

But this was not the definitive verdict it might seem on the surface. See, four of them declined to run for re-election, largely because they faced tough races amid the rigged system of redistricting. Only two of the six other candidates made it through their primaries, namely Dave Valadao in California and Dan Newhouse from Washington. And not for nothing — they both won in states with top-two open primaries where independents as well as Democrats and Republicans can vote. So that election reform helped create a more representative result.

Now, it’s true Newhouse’s Washington state colleague, Jamie Herrera Beutler, narrowly missed the top two in her re-election bid, ultimately losing by just over 1,000 votes to a Trump-backed candidate, but in a district where the Democrat came first.

Over in the swing state of Michigan, Representative Peter Meijer fell by less than 4,000 votes behind his conspiracy theory-spouting opponent who was shamefully boosted by Democrats in the final week because he was seen as easier to beat in the general election. Then, of course, back in June, South Carolina Republican Tom Rice fell to a Trump-backed candidate with less than a quarter turnout compared to a general election, even in that conservative district. 

And finally, there’s Liz Cheney last night, going down to defeat against election denier Harriet Hageman. This constitutional conservative had won previous elections with over 70%, however, the fact that she spoke out about Trump is apparently disqualifying for the majority of GOP primary voters.

(…)

If you are a principled Republican dissident, it may be best to run for office as an independent, if the state allows. It’s brave and bold, but it is a path that’s in demand. Pew Research found that the unfavorable views of both sides have been at their highest level in many decades. Although it may sound crazy for a two-party hive mind like mine, we have seen great success here in the past. Alaska’s 2010 Tea Party Insurgent Joe Miller defeated Senator Lisa Murkowski narrowly in the GOP primary. She went on to win her seat as a writein candidate.

To the opposite side, he lost his Democratic primary in 2006 against the liberal Ned Lamont and won the general election as an Independent. Recenty, Buffalo mayor Bran Brown ran a write-in campaign after losing to a socialist in his Democratic primaries. All of these instances saw protests, but voters ultimately had the final say through a more turnout general election. That’s the way it should be. We must not forget that the party is not meant to be our purpose in politics.

This year, we see Evan McMullin as an independent candidate against Mike Lee, the Republican incumbent from Utah — a state in which a conservative who is not tied to Trump has a better chance than a sacrificial Democrat.

You can’t know how many Republicans could have stood up to Trump, but it is possible to predict the outcome. That’s the “Realty Check”.

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