Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized liberal networks that chose not to air former President Trump's full comments following his historic victory in Monday's Iowa caucuses, linking them to “state media” of authoritarian regimes .
Rubio, who offered his endorsement to the former president ahead of the Republican Party's first primary election, appeared on “Hannity” Wednesday and criticized news organizations like MSNBC and CNN for their ideological snub.
“It's not about bias anymore. There's always been a liberal bias in the media. Human beings are biased. They're partisan,” Rubio told Fox News' Sean Hannity. “Now they're expanding that to not only attack Trump as a candidate, as a former president, as a future president, but also to attack the people who follow him.” [him]”.
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“What's really changed is not just the partisan tone of the coverage, but now this effort to say, 'We're not going to give a speech, we're not going to let you hear what you have to say. We're going to interpret it and we're going to publish the bits that we want out there.' listen, but we have made the decision not to publish them anymore,” Rubio continued later. “This is exactly how authoritarian governments use state media to delegitimize and discredit, basically to make people believe that there is no alternative to the regime and its government.”
“It is destroying the media in this country. That is why at this point no one believes anything they see or hear,” he added.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., compared networks that ignore former President Trump's victory speech in Iowa to the “state media” of authoritarian governments. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Trump broke records in the Hawkeye State with the largest margin of victory in a contested Republican primary, earning more than 50% of the vote.
While Fox News Channel aired his victory speech in its entirety, neither MSNBC nor CNN did the same.
CNN's Jake Tapper interrupted Trump's speech when the GOP front-runner began criticizing illegal immigration, telling viewers, “You can hear him repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric,” before continuing his election coverage.
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Meanwhile, MSNBC avoided the former president's speech entirely.
“There's a reason we and other news organizations in general have stopped providing a live, unfiltered platform to former President Trump's comments,” MSNBC's Rachel Maddow told viewers. “It's not out of spite, it's not a decision we enjoy, it's a decision we review regularly. And honestly, seriously, it's not an easy decision… But it comes at a cost for us, as a news organization, to consciously spread things. false. That is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are.”
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow told viewers that the network was not airing former President Trump's victory speech after the Iowa caucuses, while CNN's Jake Tapper cut him off over what he called “anti-immigrant rhetoric.” of Trump. (Getty Images)
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For much of last year, liberal networks faced accusations of “platforming” Trump every time they had him on the air.
CNN's liberal audience was enraged by the network's Trump town hall in May, sparking a revolt among staff within the network. NBC News faced a similar reaction in September after Trump sat down with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. The Spanish-language network Univisión was also the target of such a stir. after airing Trump interview with Mexican-American journalist Enrique Acevedo in November.
