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CNN’s Cillizza: Trump Labeling ‘Protests’ as ‘Riots’ a Sign of Desperation

Posted on 31 August 2020

CNN's Chris Cillizza might have outdone himself over the past weekend. Although he has long had a reputation for extreme silliness, his analysis about President Donald Trump identifying what are obviously riots as "riots" rather than "protests" are a sign of "desperation," according to Cillizza. What made Cillizza's observation particularly absurd was that the picture at the top of his weekend article (which was updated early Monday morning) showed a large burning building with a couple of armed law enforcement officers in riot gear in the foreground. However, the true icing on the cake of Cillizza's silliness is that he not only tweeted his laughable observation but actually included that same picture from the article that completely undercut himself as you can see below. As a result, Cillizza set himself up for the Mother of All Mockery on Twitter. Before we get to Cillizza's tweet that shall serve for all time as one of the most mockable tweets ever, let us look at Cillizza going full silly in "'Protests' or 'riots?' It makes a BIG difference": To hear Trump and his allies tell it, the situations unfolding in Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, in response to several high-profile shootings by the police of Black men is rioting, plain and simple. ...Trump's efforts to label what is happening in major cities as "riots" speaks at least somewhat to his desperation, politically speaking, at the moment. ...Trump, sensing that the race is slipping from him, has latched on to the events following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha earlier this month as a sign not of peaceful protests but of radical leftists rioting and destroying cities. The President's planned trip to Kenosha on Tuesday will give him a huge platform to make that case. "He will meet with law enforcement and survey damage from recent riots," according to the pool report announcing the trip. (That bolding is mine.) "He'll use that grieving city as a backdrop for his campaign of fear," predicted former Obama senior political adviser and CNN contributor David Axelrod. "In Trump's perverse political calculus, division equals addition." Yup. And making sure people view what is happening in the country as "riots" rather than "protests" is a key part of Trump's comeback strategy. Yup! And you writing this silly article, Chris, set yourself up for a lot of mockery. But really sent the mockery into hyperdrive was your tweet in which you for some bizarre reason included the picture accompanying your article which completely and laughably undermined your premise:   Trump's efforts to label what is happening in major cities as "riots" speaks at least somewhat to his desperation, politically speaking, at the momenthttps://t.co/tQJ495xOZK pic.twitter.com/vs19vtCHiW — Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 30, 2020   You should break out the popcorn and beer when reading that tweet because the many thousands of responses reacting to Cillizza's hilarious self-own provides a world of entertainment. Here are just a few examples of the mocking reactions:   Fiery but mostly peaceful protests!!! pic.twitter.com/4OHvKnh63u — Kelb Hull (@CalebJHull) August 30, 2020   How do you unfailingly beclown yourself this way? Shouldn't the odds allow you to tweet something smart at least once or twice? — Joanne Mason (@JoanneMason11) August 30, 2020   pic.twitter.com/lntAwpdB0D — Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) August 31, 2020 There's plenty more responses like that so sit back and enjoy the greatest clown show on earth provided by CNN's own very silly Cillizza.