Media Outlets Rise to Shield Elissa Slotkin from Her Comments On Targeting Trump and Upcoming Republicans

Elissa Slotkin really stepped in it with some recent comments, and it is clear it is a problem. The way the press has opened doors to bring her on and recalibrate what she said, as well as paint herself as the victim, says it all.

The repair work offered by the news outlets rivals that of a ServePro team.  Quoting her and addressing the very words she was captured saying is not the issue. No, it is that others have noticed what she said, and this has impacted her personally, goes the narrative.

Things all began Saturday when a conservative student-run outlet from the University of Chicago posted a video from an interview on campus with Senator Slotkin. It is a passage that otherwise might have gone unnoticed but blew up into a controversy this weekend.

In the clip, the soon-to-be senior senator from Michigan announced her intent to begin targeting President Donald Trump after the midterms, but it would be more than him in her crosshairs. Her plan is to also go after those who “enabled” him. And she intends to do so not only as a form of punishment, but also to dissuade newcomer conservatives from entering into politics.

This admission comes as the press industry is already employing a fractured approach to the topic of political retribution. The president is frequently accused of targeting opponents and weaponizing the DOJ for personal retribution. Of course, it is a selective outrage.

This is done with an intentional blind eye to what preceded this current term. To buy into this accusation, we need to completely avoid the facts from the Joe Biden administration. What is amusingly sophomoric from the press is the outrage at what they say is Trump acting with retribution. They appear ignorant that the use of that last word carries the weight of prior activity.

The media need us to ignore/forget/dismiss that in the Biden year political targeting was all the norm. Trump’s four indictments and Jack Smith’s overly intrusive investigation are not a consideration. Nor is the list of conservative figures placed in the legal crosshairs under Biden: Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, and others.

Biden’ DOJ and FBI frequently targeted and investigated conservative organizations. The administration compelled institutions to debank conservative groups. Biden even had a reporter arrested – Steve Baker of The Blaze – for recording events on Jan. 6.

Yet today we need to pretend that any legal actions by today’s administration are completely unprecedented. As a result, Elissa Slotkin is posturing as if she is correcting the natural order of things, so her call to bring down Republicans and impede the arrival of a new generation is all justified, and not hostile political targeting.

As soon as her acerbic words were exposed, it became clear Elissa Slotkin did not want that to come out. Spin and renovation work was going to be required. The news outlets have been completely agreeable to repairing her image and recalibrating what was said.

She appeared with Jake Tapper and the CNN host gave all the opportunity for Slotkin to completely shift her words and lie about what she said. Jake asked if her comments were meant to deter young conservatives from public service. “Yeah, well, look – that’s manufactured outrage.”

Uh, no, Elissa; that is what you said. To go back to that University of Chicago interview, your quotes were, “I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’ I want that deterrence message.”

Your words, Elissa Slotkin. It is on the record.

She also went on MS NOW to sit in with Nicolle Wallace on Deadline: White House, and her excuse-making and deflections were even more humorous. She tells Wallace, after Nicolle actually played her clip from Chicago, that the whole reason she is being criticized for her words is…because she is a woman. Amazing.

Note here, too, that she accuses the Republicans of being the ones who are changing the subject when she tries to fall back on the tired claim of sexism, to deflect away from being caught with her own words. She needs to avoid what she actually said that has people from the Right on alert.

In her segment earlier with Wallace, she declares that anyone who has not broken any laws should not worry. That is not what people are focused on. It was this former CIA figure saying she intends to scare off young Republicans from entering the political arena.

Her words. “I want that deterrence message.” It does not pertain to adherence to the law when you want to turn away those who are not yet in the system. That is specifically what Elissa Slotkin desperately needs to spin away from, and these outlets are more than compliant to help her cause.

Jake Tapper was following the usual CNN janitorial script to help Democrats clean up an issue. He broaches the subject and sounds serious as he does so, but then he backs away and allows his guest to explain away and pontificate without interruption.

Nicolle Wallace went further. She and Ellisa Slotkin went on the offensive, hoping to drive back those noticing and highlighting the Senator’s words; the goal is to turn the interrogation lamp on those who are illuminating what was being proposed. Don’t focus on what she said, focus on those who noticed what she said!

What is evident here is that she was caught admitting the intent to intimidate up-and-comers within the opposition party. She laid out the plan that after Democrats take some power, they will exert leverage and launch deeper attacks on Republicans. And now the very journalists barking about political targeting are, on cue, helping to clean up for a Democrat caught admitting she intends to wield political reprisals.

She also wants to impose perceived threats on prospective participants, to drive them away from joining the fray, to impose a “deterrence”. What is troubling for Elissa Slotkin is that her admission was exposed.

What is convenient for Elissa Slotkin is that the press corps is there, at the ready, to provide the custodial services and mop up the unintentional mess her mouth created.

——

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!