CNN’s “State of the Union” panel descended into a testy exchange Sunday after a Republican panelist shut down a co-panelist who attempted to deflect from the recent acknowledgment of President Joe Biden’s lovechild, Navy Roberts.
The topic arose when CNN’s Scott Jennings – a Republican – criticized former Biden senior aide Michael LaRosa for claiming that Republicans were using Roberts’ existence for political gain.
“It’s not Republicans, with all due respect, who made Hunter Biden into a complete scumbag on this and other issues, ignoring his own daughter for four years,” Jennings said.
Karen Finney, an analyst, then tried to divert the discussion away from the Biden family and onto Jennings’ criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris suggested that Florida’s new curriculum, which teaches that some skills slaves learned were beneficial after slavery, is forcing students to learn that slaves actually “benefited from slavery.”
“It is far more appalling to see the Republicans, this week, starting with you Scott, calling the vice president of the United States a liar when it comes to the very real personal stories,” Finney said.
The former Vice President Mike Pence’s former Chief of Staff Marc Short was not having it. “It is a nice attempt at a pivot,” Short shot back. “But it’s not about Hunter Biden’s addiction. This is about Joe Biden not recognizing his granddaughter for four years…a child of God you wouldn’t recognize for four years.”
Short’s criticism of Hunter Biden was met with a heated response from Finney. “I understand why you would rather talk about that than the fact that your party is demonizing people who want to tell the truth about racism while trying to reach out to African American voters,” Finney said, concluding the panel’s exchange.
Biden’s acknowledgement of his grandchild comes as a result of political pressure. Through the Biden administration, the politically-motivated media questions the credibility of Republicans and willfully ignores Hunter Biden’s behavior. Although it is an admirable sentiment to forgive and accept mistakes, it is seen as a disregard of Biden’s own moral judgment when shielded and enabled by the press.
In such a politically charged atmosphere, many are asking how far people will go to selectively cover, or not cover, certain topics in order to paint a false political narrative. It is clear that CNN’s “State of the Union” viewers are getting weary of biased media. It is time for the network to end the diversion tactics and face up to the facts.