CNN and MSNBC are all using the “fox guarding the hen house” metaphor to describe Trump’s recent suggestion that the US partner with Russia on cyber security.
Trump first raised the idea in a tweet on Sunday, writing that he and Putin “discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit” during their first face-to-face meeting at the G20 summit.
Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
The plan was pretty much universally critiqued by the left and the right, and Trump walked back the idea later that evening.
The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t-but a ceasefire can,& did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017
That didn’t stop MSNBC and CNN from using the same tired “fox guarding the hen house” metaphor for the plan for several days.
“The idea that we would work with the culprit, the people who are our adversary…is the fox guarding the hen house,” said one MSNBC guest.
“Some of the metaphors that are being used, but I’ll give you another one–it’s akin to saying to the fox, ‘you’re in charge of the hen house,'” James Gagliano stated on CNN.
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