On Tuesday morning’s CNN Newsroom, host Jim Sciutto and CNN political commentator Errol Louis discussed a wacky theory regarding what constitutes voter suppression. Apparently, it’s just “muted negative campaigning.” Rather than dismiss this take, Sciutto loved it.
The host started by stating that Trump panders to racists and has a “speckled” history when it comes to race relations in his past. A man who is supposed to be an objective journalist saying this is something to note. But the segment got far more interesting later on when Sciutto turned the cameras to Louis:
Well frankly, negative campaigning is sort of a slightly muted form of voter suppression. Right? He's trying to get people so disgusted that they stay home. Donald Trump knows very well and his strategists I'm sure don't need to explain it to him the reason he is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is that the black vote was sort of less than enthusiastic as far as turnout. That there weren't as many voters who came out in Detroit, and Milwaukee, and Philadelphia, and that's why he won Michigan, and he won Wisconsin, and he won Pennsylvania. If he wants a repeat of that he needs to get a similarly sort of muted, discouraged, maybe not quite as enthusiastic black base to the Democratic Party come Election Day.
Louis suggested that any sort of negative campaigning is a form of voter suppression. If that’s the case, then almost every campaign in American history is guilty of committing voter suppression, including the Democratic candidates who the liberal media so often speaks fondly of.
“Voter suppression” has been a widely used trump card excuse for leftists who have lost elections as of late. Failed Georgia Governor candidate Stacey Abrams is perhaps the most well known for utilizing this strategy, so it’s no surprise to see the media jump on it as well.
Here is the complete transcript from the airing:
CNN Newsroom
05/28/19
9:10 a.m. Eastern
JIM SCIUTTO: So Errol Louis, beyond the schoolyard taunt of Biden from afar, low IQ. Let's just ignore that. On the '94 crime bill though, which Biden supported, that a more strategic attack perhaps you can call it. He is going after African-American voters here. Is there any potential for that kind of argument for a U.S. President who has at times courted white nationalists and has his own, shall we say, speckled history --
ERROL LOUIS: Yeah, to say the least.
SCIUTTO: -- when it comes to race relations going back to his days in the '80s as a New York property developer?
LOUIS: That's right. Look, let's not be mistaken about this. Donald Trump is not appealing to black voters as if he's going to get them. It's more as if he's trying to sort of turn them off from who he thinks, and is worried about clearly, Joe Biden.
SCIUTTO Appears zero sum.
LOUIS: Yeah, well exactly. Well frankly, negative campaigning is sort of a slightly muted form of voter suppression. Right? He's trying to get people so disgusted that they stay home. Donald Trump knows very well and his strategists I'm sure don't need to explain it to him the reason he is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is that the black vote was sort of less than enthusiastic as far as turnout. That there weren't as many voters who came out in Detroit, and Milwaukee, and Philadelphia, and that's why he won Michigan, and he won Wisconsin, and he won Pennsylvania. If he wants a repeat of that he needs to get a similarly sort of muted, discouraged, maybe not quite as enthusiastic black base to the Democratic Party come Election Day.
SCIUTTO: Smartest analysis of that point that I've heard. It gets right to the point of what this is about.
