CNN’s Kate Bolduan did a segment Monday about Donald Trump’s unsupported claim (aka: lie) that thousands of voters were bused from Massachusetts to New Hampshire to vote illegally. She noted that there was no evidence of that other than baseless assertions by administration shills like Stephen Miller. Then she played a video of Miller on ABC directing the media to where they could find the elusive evidence. Miller told George Stephanopoulos that:
“Many, many highly qualified people, like Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State, have looked deeply into this issue and confirmed it to be true and have put together evidence. And I suggest you invite Kris Kobach onto your show and he can walk you through some of the evidence of voter fraud.”
So that’s exactly what Bolduan did. However, she didn’t get the result that Miller promised. She interviewed Koback and started off by asking him what evidence he has that thousands of people voted illegally. The next seven minutes (video below) was consumed by Kobach dodging the question and failing to provide any shred of the fabled evidence. Each time Bolduan asked for proof of illegal voting, Kobach contorted his answer to address only registration issues. His lone argument was that there were people who were on the registration rolls of both Massachusettes and New Hampshire. But he had no proof that any of them actually voted in both states.
To be clear, there is nothing illegal about being registered in more than one state. It happens frequently when registered voters move to a new state and re-register. Most people will never inform the election authorities of their previous residence that they moved. And so long as they only vote once they have broken no laws. It would be easy to ascertain whether someone voted more than once. Consequently, the absence of more than handful of such incidents attests to its rarity. The allegations of thousands – or even millions, as Trump has claimed – is preposterous and has been widely debunked.
Nevertheless, Kobach persisted in switching the subject to entirely legal registration matters. He struggled to reply when Bolduan pressed him to certify the claims by Miller that fraud had already been proven. After hemming and hawing he would go straight back to the registration red herring. A clearly frustrated Bolduan eventually concluded the interview with an exasperated sigh.
And here’s where it get’s truly absurd. Following his embarrassing performance, Kobach took to Twitter to complain about a graphic that appeared on screen during the interview. It read “Trump Aide Repeats False Claims Of Voter Fraud.” Kobach’s tweet accused CNN of Bias:
https://twitter.com/KrisKobach1787/status/831207220599746561
First of all, the graphic is simply stating something that is verifiably true. That isn’t bias, it’s journalism. Secondly, the truth is not something that viewers get to “decide.” As Daniel Patrick Moynihan so poignantly observed “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.” Finally, the graphic isn’t even even referring to Kobach. It is referring to Trump’s aide, Stephen Miller. This should be clear to Kobach since he’s not presently a Trump aide, unless there’s something they’re not telling us. Bolduan herself apprised Kobach of that:
Thank u for coming on today @KrisKobach1787 . Please be assured the banner was not referring to you, rather Trump aide Stephen Miller.
— Kate Bolduan (@KateBolduan) February 13, 2017
She was being kind, because he was lying also. Kobach’s petulant whining and failure to understand the graphic was pounced on by an amused and outraged Twitter community. Here are a few of the replies that he received to his tweet:
Actually, it shows proof of @CNN accuracy, you lying snollygoster.
— News Corpse (@NewsCorpse) February 14, 2017
The @CNN bias towards facts.
— Man vs. Pink (@ManVsPink) February 13, 2017
They should’ve described you as a “Lying sack of crap”, but that would’ve been too wordy.
— Charles Gaba ( ??, deal with it) (@charles_gaba) February 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/IanFortey/status/831222483013554176
https://twitter.com/sivavaid/status/831220373333147649
you don't get to let "viewers decide" about facts, fool. This isn't a choose-your-own-adventure novel.
— ebihanabi (@ebihanabi) February 13, 2017
your statements were false, you racist-ass paste golem
— K. Thor Jensen ?? (@kthorjensen) February 13, 2017
.@KrisKobach1787 @CNN Seems you don't know how journalism works. If UR presenting "alternative facts," the media's job is to point that out
— Jessica Daigle (@jadaigle39) February 14, 2017
.@KrisKobach1787 Were talking about Miller's falsehood. But yours were false too. Just show proof of millions and ppl might believe u.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 13, 2017
And those are the nice ones. Kobach is just another one of the sycophants that populate Trump’s world. They are chosen for their aversion to facts, indifference toward the trials of ordinary Americans, and the ability to lie with a straight face. He’ll go far in the Era of Trump.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
We are in a new type of ‘democracy ‘ where people get to vote on the facts (as long as you vote for the conservative idea).
Tantrum Tweeter Trump has made ‘truth’ a blurred concept.
Kris Kobach wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him. He’s a Koch Bros. protege and as crooked as the day is long. Stephen Miller who claimed the same hogwash—busloads of illegal voters crossing over from Massachusetts to vote against Republicans—asked Stephanoupolis to ask New Hampshire officials. When they were asked, none found any evidence of this. I think Miller is the sort of Hitler youth that Hitler used to pin medals on, especially in the last days, sending off to battle for certain death. Miller is an idiot. Kobach is a traitor. Both should be deported.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Our president’s obscene
And so is his crew.
For some reason, today brought out the poet for a lot of MMfA contributors. 🙂