CNN’s politics reporter Chris Cilizza reminded mankind why he can be such a human canker sore Monday. He got under some people’s skin by highlighting seemingly cherrypicked quotes from Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Iranian leader Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a President Donald Trump-sanctioned drone strike last week.
Warren, Jan 2: Soleimani is a “murderer”
Warren, Jan 3: U.S. “assassinated” Soleimani
Warren, Jan. 5: Soleimani is “a government official, a high-ranking military official” https://t.co/Bz8Squds0c
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 6, 2020
Warren’s spokeswoman Kristen Orthman was especially incensed by Cillizza’s tweet.
“I rarely tweet about stuff like this but I can’t hold back here,” she tweeted at him Monday afternoon. “Chris, this is embarrassing. Every statement is true & consistent. The reason you were able to cherry-pick her many comments is b/c she’s the only candidate who’s done multiple interviews & media avails about it.”
She suggested that he consult with his smarter CNN colleagues.
“And meanwhile the administration makes chaotic and inconsistent public statements as they march us to war in real time,” she wrote. “Before writing next time, you should check in with your CNN colleagues who are out on the road working hard and covering her and the other campaigns.”
Chris Geidner, a former legal editor at BuzzFeed who often reminds people to be good to one another, wrote perhaps the most scathing of insults about Cillizza. He now works for The Justice Collaborative, which aims to bring “human dignity” and “restraint” to the criminal justice system.
“Cillizza, every day: An embarrassment,” Geidner blasted him on social media.
Daniel Chun cut deep with his insult.
“We’ve gotta get you past this feedback loop where you think being yelled at on Twitter is proof you’re doing something right,” tweeted Chun, who has written for popular TV shows like The Office and The Simpsons. “It’s not, man! You suck! Try to improve!”
Esquire‘s Charles Pierce was less of a life coach for Cillizza
“Jesus Christ, ESL courses are available on line,” the lefty journo snickered.
Adam Best, a filmmaker and progressive activist, snarked, “Literally, all of this is true, there is no problem here except with perhaps your brain.”
Cillizza is known for his near constant anti-Trump sentiments. “Donald Trump doesn’t understand what American exceptionalism actually means,” he wrote Monday. Also this: “Trump’s worldview — such as it is — is what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Because there is nothing off-limits to the Iranians, there should be nothing off-limits to America.”
Weirdly, as of Monday night and the publishing of this piece, Cillizza has 666k Twitter followers, but I’m not going to assume this has anything to do with the devil.
Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible Guide, which is comprised of former congressional staffers, accused Cillizza of being sexist.
“If you wanted to cover actual inconsistencies, maybe look at [Joe] Biden running around saying he always opposed the Iraq War,” he snarled. “But he’s a dude, so you’ll prob want to just give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Indrees Ahmad, contributing editor of LA Review of Books, had a mean suggestion for the CNNer that viewers love to pounce on.
“Dude, seek a new profession,” Ahmad tweeted. “All those are factual statements, cumulative, not contradictory.”