The Elitist Media by no means rests in terms of pursuing partisan narratives that will assist their most well-liked political tribe win an argument or a information cycle. A number of the angles they pursue are so transparently dumb and shameless, although, that it’s important to marvel.
Watch as CNN’s Manu Raju builds a bizarre actuality TV angle solely to bankshot it into an affordable shot in opposition to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (click on “broaden” to view transcript):
PEAK JOURNALISMING: Watch as CNN’s Manu Raju works a bizarre actuality TV angle into an affordable shot of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pic.twitter.com/cxejgND3Qy
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) Could 10, 2026
CNN INSIDE POLITICS
5/10/26
11:53 AM
MANU RAJU: Actuality TV stars have discovered a manner into our politics. Simply take a look at the present occupant of the Oval Workplace. So may one now be the following mayor of the nation’s second largest metropolis? Effectively, Spencer Pratt, a former star of the truth present The Hills, has rocketed to the forefront of the Los Angeles mayoral race after repeatedly taking up the present mayor, Karen Bass, in a debate this previous week. Pratt’s a Republican operating within the nonpartisan race, and he hit her notably onerous on her response to final yr’s wildfires.
SPENCER PRATT: I blame this particular person for burning my home and my dad and mom’ home and my city, and all my neighbors’ down. I’m not working with Mayor Bass.
RAJU: Forward of the June 2nd major, Bass responded to that criticism on CNN final evening.
KAREN BASS: Let me simply say that because the mayor of town, the buck stops with me. That could be very, very clear. What was true of our metropolis, however not simply our metropolis, our area, our county was that we weren’t ready.
RAJU: And Spencer Pratt’s not the one actuality TV star attempting to achieve political traction. Luke Gulbranson from the present The Summer time Home is operating to characterize northern Minnesota within the Home of Representatives. He is operating as a Democrat in a district President Trump received by 14 factors in 2024.
And it isn’t simply present candidates. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who appeared on a pair of MTV actuality exhibits within the Nineties together with The Actual World, mentioned this week that for the previous seven months, he and his household have been filming for a Trump-approved present referred to as The Nice American Highway Journey that’s set to air on YouTube.
SEAN DUFFY: So I need to lean into America’s 250th birthday. Rachel and I really met on a highway journey on a actuality TV present. And so over the course of seven months, we simply type of discovered these moments the place I’d have the ability to do some work. I may take the children with me, do a highway journey.
RAJU: However the undertaking has raised some moral issues since its sponsors embrace a number of firms whose companies inters- pursuits intersect with the company that Duffy oversees. And yesterday, Duffy attacked what he referred to as the, quote, “radical, depressing, left” for criticism of the undertaking and mentioned it was absolutely inside ethics guidelines as reviewed by federal officers. However nobody can dispute that it’s maybe not the most cost effective time to go on a highway journey.
The phase began with a point out of President Donald Trump earlier than transitioning to Spencer Pratt, whose L.A. mayoral candidacy is surging after a stable debate efficiency and a collection of viral movies. That alone may have been a phase, however Raju shortly strikes on to Luke Gulbranson and his congressional race earlier than selecting his actual goal: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Duffy has lengthy been a goal of Official Washington, seething at the truth that Duffy exposes how very unhealthy his media-loved predecessor was. Duffy is focused due to his recently-announced present The Nice American Highway Journey, which ties into America’s 250th anniversary celebration.
To be able to make this tenuous phase work, Raju leaves out the truth that Duffy was a prosecutor and was elected to Congress the place he served for 4 phrases. These inconvenient information don’t bolster the “actuality present star” narrative, although. So viewers get this slop as an alternative.
