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CNN SPECIAL ELECTION ROUNDUP: An Elon Musk Derangement Extravaganza
CNN went into overdrive for its coverage of the two special congressional elections in Florida, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, pre-empting their normal prime time schedule in favor of full Election Night Coverage. Coverage proved to be little more than an exercise in Elon Musk Derangement therapy, with some elections happening in-between.
Prime time started haplessly enough, with former Florida Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings starting to compare Senator Cory Booker’s speech with civil rights gains:
C'MON, CHIEF: Former Rep. Val Demings begins to compare a Dem win in FL-6 to historic civil rights legislation before Erin Burnett prompts her to walk it back pic.twitter.com/GNE0rUKh0f
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 1, 2025
VAL DEMINGS: You know, America has done some pretty impossible things against the most impossible odds. I think back to women's rights, civil rights, voting rights, rights of equality, all those pieces of legislation that no one ever thought we'd ever get ‘cross the finish line.
ERIN BURNETT: And you feel that you can get this…. (CROSSSTALK)
DEMINGS: Well, I'm not saying that, but what I am saying for Democrats, we are fighting on behalf of the people. You know, the economy. Do you think most people in District 6 think they're better off now than they were before January 20th? The president said that he was going to lower the cost of goods and services on day one. Things have gotten worse. So we have to continue to fight the good fight. And regardless of what the outcome is tonight, tomorrow- I don’t know if Senator Booker will still be at the microphone- but tomorrow we will still be fighting for the people.
There was some degree of attention paid to the non-filibuster filibuster, but the primary focus was on Musk. In that sense, the elections were secondary. The main focus tonight was on driving a narrative of Musk as toxic to President Donald Trump and his agenda. Abby Phillip exemplifies the Musk-deranged tone of CNN’s coverage:
Early narrative bait: CNN's Abby Phillip sets Elon Musk up to be the villain of tonight's special elections. Expect more going forward pic.twitter.com/RvvvxGKWpb
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 2, 2025
ABBY PHILLIP: That also explains why Elon Musk put all of his energy in Wisconsin, because these two (Florida) races, Republicans should have won them. They were pretty much expected to have been won, but they they really want to blunt this narrative that there is a problem. And to do that, they need to win everything. And Wisconsin then becomes a keystone to that. So it is possible tonight that in Wisconsin, $20 million in for Elon Musk, you could see Republicans perhaps eking out a victory or getting a clean win there. And that changes the narrative. But- but I do think where we are right now for this administration is that this is as good as it gets. Okay. There are a couple of months in. Trump is relatively popular compared to Trump from the last time around. It’s not going to get any better. The economy is not going to get any better. And so they really need to sort of keep the boat afloat for this moment.
Talking down the economy to own Trump and Elon is a look, perhaps on-brand for CNN- certainly on-brand for Phillip. This is what Elon derangement does.
Next, CNN brings on Kara Swisher, who has turned Elon-deranged hatred into its own self-sustaining cottage industry:
CNN carefully planned to make Elon Musk the scapegoat of the special elections, going so far as to book Elon hater Kara Swisher pic.twitter.com/9UkwY3CASU
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 2, 2025
JAKE TAPPER: Kara Swisher joins our panel. Kara, something of an expert on Elon Musk. (CROSSTALK)
KARA SWISHER: I’m saying, I'm so tired of looking at him? I just….
TAPPER: Well, let's talk about him. You don't have to look at him. But we do want to talk about him.
SWISHER: The voters of Wisconsin are too.
TAPPER: So we'll bring up the picture of him with the cheesehead hat on to fill you with thrills and delight.
SWISHER: Thank you.
TAPPER: Tell me how you see the role of Elon. There it is. He's jumping up and down. How do you see the role of Elon Musk in this race? It seems to cut both ways.
SWISHER: Yeah, it cuts both ways. And we'll see what happens here. I mean- He's- he's not his- his- his negatives are quite high. And so it depends on who's motivated more, the people who really like him or the people who really dislike him. And I think the people who really dislike him are increasing over time. And especially in a state like Wisconsin, which I suspect if anyone came to a state of mine who wasn't from there and started meddling, I think a lot of people in Wisconsin wouldn't like that. They want to just vote on their own, and they may like Donald Trump, by the way, a lot of these voters.
KASIE HUNT: Kara, how does Elon Musk take in his- the political polling about him?
SWISHER: I don’t think he cares.
HUNT: You don't think he cares at all?
SWISHER: No, no. Do you think he does…?
HUNT: Even if it means that Tesla, the place where he gets all of his money, ends up suffering because of it?
SWISHER: I don't think he cares. I think, you know, you've heard him say that, you know, he's moved on to the next thing, and his next thing is this country- is doing this because, you know, even though he was doing that dramatic thing about, you know, humanity will die if this if this election, he's done that many times before to me. He one time said if Tesla didn't survive, humanity was doomed, which I thought was a little much.
DANA BASH: I mean, we'll see what happens. And it is still possible that his money and the attention on Wisconsin will help Republicans. But if he loses, I mean, how about that?
SWISHER: He'll go on to the next thing. That's the thing.
BASH: He’s just like, “oh, well.”
SWISHER: He’s like very dogged in a lot of ways. And I think it certainly will be a referendum on him.
BASH: It's like putting up a rocket that doesn't work, you go…
SWISHER: Right, he'll do the next, he'll blow up the next one, he'll blow up the next one. And, you know, people don't realize this, but a lot of his flights don't work like a lot of them don't. And maybe one does. And I think that’s how he operates.
BASH: How’s that self-driving car going?
SWISHER: Ehhhh, we'll see. I was just in a Waymo, though, from Google. So.
ABBY PHILLIP: He has raised the stakes for this so significantly that I think that in a way, it actually might help on both ends of the spectrum. He's called it the- the race that will determine the rest of civilization, survival of Western Civilization. And, you know, state supreme court cases, like a lot of these sort of off year things, most people are not paying attention to them. They're not leaving their houses for them. But he has basically told people that he thinks this is the most important thing happening in the world. And for that reason, I think a lot of people that normally are like, “I don't know what this is about” are going to pay attention. And there are some other things, I think, for Democrats, we talked about abortion and other issues that are on the table that might get people out the door.
SWISHER: Absolutely. But I think, you know, he talks about a big game, about the humanity and this stuff. Very overdramatic. And it's just nonsense what he's doing there. But he does have a case in front of this state supreme court. And I always look to the money with this guy. I always think about what is his business interests, including with DOGE cuts. A lot of the DOGE cuts were agencies that were investigating him. Those were the first. And so he’s always thinking about his own interests.
TAPPER: Kara Swisher. Thanks so much for the insights. Appreciate it.
As one astute X observer noted, Swisher is just SOOO TIRED of talking about her meal ticket. And here she is again.
Once the race got called, the panels in D.C. and in New York went into post-mortem mode. Phillip got more than she bargained for when she tried to insist to former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker that Musk absolutely said he’s cut Social Security and Medicaid:
WATCH: @ScottWalker calmly SCHOOLS CNN's Abby Phillip on fake Medicare/Medicaid cuts narrative pic.twitter.com/c5p0AKB9F8
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 2, 2025
PHILLIP: I want to go back to Elon Musk for a second because, I mean, it is true that he spent $20 million on affiliated groups that were involved in this race. Was it a risk for Republicans to put all their eggs in that basket? Not only did he spend the money, he came to the state. He came to the state. He talked about cutting Medicaid, Social Security through DOGE, bringing those issues up...
SCOTT WALKER: Actually, he never talked- he explicitly said in Green Bay that he would not cut Social Security.
PHILLIP: Well, he talked…
WALKER: That's exactly what he sai
PHILLIP: He talked at his rally.
WALKER: No, no other people said about that. But I was there, I watched him. He did not say he was gonna cut Medicaid.
PHILLIP: Okay. Well, other people at his rallies who work for DOGE, who work for Elon Musk's organization, talked about those issues.
WALKER: No, I was at the rally, not a one of them said that.
PHILLIP: Do you- do you think that there are risks?
WALKER: That's what the protesters said, but nobody there actually said that.
PHILLIP: Do you think that there are risks here…?
WALKER: There are if people believe the lies that people are saying about that-
PHILLIP: for Republicans and those issues being associated with Elon Musk.
WALKER: But that's not at all what they said. If people believe that Medicaid and Medicare is going to be touched, that's just a flat, outright lie. What he talked about are people who are over 120 years old, who clearly are not alive...
PHILLIP: Well- well, the reason I brought up is, OK..
WALKER: getting Social Security or Medicaid benefits.
PHILLIP Okay. Well.
WALKER: That's totally wrong. Even Democrats believe that…
PHILLIP: Just to sort this out, the reason I brought this up is because the claim here is that there's massive, widespread fraud and that that's all they're addressing. That's obviously a disputed claim because it's not true that 120 year old people are getting Social Security checks. The checks stop at a certain point automatically, because those checks are- those checks and balances are already in place.
WALKER: Those Social Security numbers get counted for various parts of the federal government. So they count. They don't get a benefit directly to those people, but they count for money that gets allocated to different departments in their budget, and they shouldn't be. If somebody is no longer alive, they shouldn’t be able to count that as an allocation.
PHILLIP: I guess my fundamental question was, what are the risks here of Elon dabbling in elections for Republicans going forward?
WALKER: Well, again, I think in the end, he's going to have to continue to make the case. Part of the reason why, when we talked about our recall, what flipped things for us early down- early on in that recall process, Time magazine called me “Dead Man Walker.” And the reason was because all the narratives coming out from the press, coming out from the left, were about all these horrible, egregious things. Once we started to give examples of the things we were actually doing, not the things the press said, not the things that our opponent said, but the things that we were actually doing when we ended up going before the voters in the final election, in the recall, we actually won by more votes than we did. So I think what's paramount for him or anyone else in line with him is: keep giving actual examples of what they're doing, set aside things like Social Security, and make it abundantly clear that that’s not being touched, but if there’s waste, fraud and abuse, spell it out, make the case, and bring it to the voters.
Gov. Walker very calmly pushed back on Phillips’ false narrative and ultimately forced her to remove “Elon wants to cut Medicare and Social Security” from her question. IIt was a sight to behold.
Hammering the point home before turning over to the B-team, Tapper and Kara Swisher pick it up again and devote a whole segment to indulging their Elon Derangement. Here’s Tapper, discussing the difference between Musk and, say, George Soros, JB Pritzker or Reid Hoffmann:
ELON DERANGEMENT: CNN's Jake Tapper suggests Soros, Pritzker, (Hoffman) are more virtuous than Elon because they only donate money, whereas Elon...addresses the people himself pic.twitter.com/iJ6DkZwpqX
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 2, 2025
TAPPER: What's interesting about it is you heard anytime anybody brings this up, a Republican will say, well, what about JB Pritzker? And what about George Soros? And what about this? What about that? And I guess the answer is, you don't see George- first of all, George Soros…
SWISHER: I didn’t see George Soros wearing a cheesehead.
TAPPER: You don't see them out there talking.
SWISHER: No.
TAPPER: Right? I mean, they might be giving money to organizations this and that, and people can criticize that all they all want.
SWISHER: They all do. They all do.
TAPPER: BUT. But- the idea that like, oh no, I am going to tell these voters- forget, like, hiring Scott Walker to do it or somebody on the Mikwaukee Bucks. I’m going to tell them.
SWISHER: Right.
The table was set early, and the panels hit the theme often. Anything less than a total Republican sweep in Florida and Wisconsin was going to be cast by the Resistance Media as a failure by Elon Musk. The Musk-Deranged Media worked to craft, hone, and then propagate their narrative of Musk as villain. Going forward, they will continue to do so.