CNN’s Avlon bemoans Dems ‘dangerous game’ of funding pro-Trump candidates — because they might win!

(Video: CNN)

CNN’s John Avlon took exception to the Democratic Party for interfering in Republican primary elections by funding pro-Trump candidates, a strategy based on the idea that these candidates will be easier to smear in the general election because of their association with the former president.

Having little success to run on, Democrats are painting Republicans as “extremists” and can’t have any moderates messing up that plan, and there is what Avlon is fretting over — though his greater fear may be that the pro-Trump Republicans might actually win.

“There’s a lot of righteous talk, especially from Democrats, about how we need to build the biggest possible coalition to defend democracy — couldn’t agree more,” Avlon said, before lofting praise on GOP lawmakers who hate Trump. “And charter members of that profiles in courage caucus are the 10 House Republicans who voted for President Trump’s impeachment after the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol.”

In the event you weren’t aware that Avlon was a card-carrying Kool-Aid drinker, he confirmed his club standing by properly regurgitating the proper left-wing catchphrases in his open, but he was far from done.

“They’ve got a lot of praise for putting country over party, but talk is cheap and the reality is that those brave folks, including Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, have been taking a lot of fire from the left and right this year,” Avlon said. “And the most recent example is Congressman Peter Meijer, a young Army veteran and rising star from Michigan. A man whose independent-minded, common sense conservative principles perfectly fit the district once held by Gerald Ford.”

“But yesterday, with one week until his primary, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee decided to drop more than $400,000 ad buy in his district to boost the name of his Trump-backed far-right primary opponent because they believe he’d be much easier to beat in a district that Biden won in 2020,” he continued. “It’s incredibly cynical and hypothetical. And also part of a trend, Democrats trying to meddle in Republican primaries not to aid Republicans but to try to kneecap them.”

Avlon would fault the midterms, not President Biden’s dismal performance, as a factor in voters pulling away from the Democratic Party.

“It’s a dangerous game to play because with the gravitation pull of midterms moving away from the president’s party, there’s a non-zero chance that some of the more extreme candidates could win despite being an objectively worse fit for their district,” he said.

Insisting that “some principles” are bigger than partisanship, Avlon took issue with “honorable outliers” like Meijer being on the Democrat list “instead of punishing the 147 members of the sedition caucus” — this being the GOP lawmakers who exercised their constitutional right to oppose a dubious election.

The CNN host would go on to advocate for Democrats to politicize the redistricting process and target pro-Trump Republicans, bemoaning that the traitorous 10 are now down to just five, and with U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., being one of the five, that number is certain to be reduced further in November.

“Our democratic republic depends on people putting country over party, but our usually zero sum political party system rewards the opposite,” Avlon said, from high atop his moral perch. “And in Washington, D.C., getting re-elected is held in higher regard than trying to do the right thing. For our democracy to endure, we need political figures with the courage to stand up to the extremes in their own party. We need more of the moral clarity that Liz Cheney expressed to our colleague Jake Tapper.”

A clip was run of Cheney essentially saying her hatred of Donald Trump takes precedence over representing her constituents.

“So if you really want to build the broadest possible coalition to defend democracy, that means sometimes supporting honorable men and women across the aisle knowing you might disagree on many policy details, but not the essential character,” Avlon concluded. “Or their commitment to truth and democracy. You say you value putting party country over party, act like it.”

Note the response to the exceptionally rare Democrat who puts “country over party,” as seen in the left’s attacks on Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Seems the “profiles in courage” label is reserved for Trump-hating Republicans only.

Tom Tillison

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles