Charlamagne tha God criticized CNN for normalizing Donald Trump’s extremism during an appearance on Anderson Cooper 360 on Thursday.
The Breakfast Club host called out the network’s “double standard”—and the media’s in general—in its coverage of Trump and Kamala Harris.
The conversation really kicked off when Cooper called back to Harris’ recent town hall on Charlamagne’s show, during which Charlamagne said the vice president “come[s] off as very scripted.” Cooper asked Charlamagne if Harris should be “less crafted” in her public speaking. He noted that Trump booked an interview with Joe Rogan to bolster his shot at the presidency. Should Harris do the same?
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“I think that she should keep calling Donald Trump a fascist,” Charlamagne replied. “And I think that Americans need to keep looking at the rhetoric of Donald Trump, because I don‘t know why we’re even thinking about electing somebody who’s talking about putting people in camps.”
He continued, saying he doesn’t understand “why we want to elect somebody who’s talking about mass deportation,” or “why we‘re having this conversation about somebody who wants to terminate the Constitution.”
Here, Charlamagne was referring to Trump’s stated intention to build detention camps along the U.S.-Mexico border, to which he would send the immigrants he apparently plans to round up in mass raids. He’s also talked about deploying the military against his political opponents, or as he calls them, the “enemy within.”
Those things shouldn’t be treated as normal, Charlamagne argued, but “even me bringing it up now, you brought it back to Kamala and Joe Rogan, Anderson. Who gives a damn?”
When Charlamagne noted that he “hear[s] more on this network about ‘is Kamala Harris Black?’ than I do about Donald Trump being a fascist.”
Cooper cut in, saying: “That’s bulls--t.”
Charlamagne responded that he’s seen Harris’ race being discussed on the network’s roundtable segments: “I’ve seen roundtable discussions a lot. Now that’s bulls--t, Anderson.”
Cooper countered that CNN may have included some “nutty people” with nutty views on Harris’ ethnicity in roundtable discussions, but only to air “different viewpoints.” To his credit, Cooper did call “bulls--t” on a Trump surrogate last week, for minimizing the former president’s extremism. But a “both sides” presentation of Trump’s politics does risk giving fringe conspiracies the same weight as facts.
Charlamagne then brought the conversation back to the disconnect in popular expectations of Harris and Trump: She’s expected to be unflinchingly articulate, professional, and comfortable when talking about any topic, while he can just say whatever he wants.
“I think no network has honest about Donald Trump,” Charlamagne said. “It’s always a double standard with Trump, whether it’s with Hillary, whether it’s, you know, against Biden. Now, with Kamala, we talk about [Trump] being a threat to democracy, but we don’t treat him like one.”
