There’s nothing quite as satisfying as watching self-righteous journalists get a big, steaming pile of reality dumped right in their laps. What’s even better? When it happens on live TV, with not one, but multiple talking heads flailing as they desperately try to cover up their biases. Last night on “NewsNight” with Abby Phillip—er, sorry, that’s “Ambien” Phillip for those trying to stay awake—it was Ryan Girdusky who served up the truth bomb, and boy, did it send the CNN panel into full meltdown mode.
The topic, unsurprisingly, was Donald Trump and his supposedly rocky relationship with minority communities. Because let’s face it, if you’re watching CNN, a racial discussion is always around the corner. But Girdusky had the audacity to bring up something that left the rest of the panel clutching their pearls: the aftermath of the George Floyd riots, or as he put it, “The Floyd Effect.” And, predictably, chaos ensued.
See, Girdusky dared to mention that the riots following Floyd’s death and the subsequent retreat of police from their duties led to a surge in crime, particularly affecting Black communities. He wasn’t pulling this out of thin air—this was a documented phenomenon, often referred to as the “Ferguson Effect,” where police pulled back out of fear of becoming the next viral sensation on social media. And yet, Bakari Sellers and the ever-condescending Abby Phillip immediately jumped in, accusing him of making up “his own conjecture.”
Cue the cross-talking and elevated voices. Girdusky tried to explain that this wasn’t some invention of his but was a well-known occurrence, backed by data, and even reported on by the very network that was now denying it. But of course, the panel was more interested in silencing him than actually addressing the facts. The moment Phillip accused him of “inventing” the connection between the riots and the rise in crime, it became clear they weren’t there for a debate—they were there to protect their narrative.
Then came Bakari Sellers, throwing out accusations of “intellectual dishonesty” and boldly claiming Donald Trump had never spoken up about George Floyd’s death—an assertion that’s just blatantly false. Trump did acknowledge Floyd’s death, but hey, who needs facts when you’re so wrapped up in emotional grandstanding? This was supposed to be a serious discussion, but instead, it devolved into a schoolyard shouting match where the facts were about as welcome as Girdusky himself.
The kicker? This so-called “Floyd Effect” that everyone on the panel was so quick to dismiss was not only a real thing, but it had been reported on by—wait for it—CNN. Yes, the very network hosting this circus had, in fact, acknowledged that after the Floyd and Ferguson riots, police were pulling back from enforcing the law, which led to spikes in crime in Black neighborhoods. But that didn’t stop Phillip and the rest from pretending like it was all a figment of Girdusky’s imagination.
The most delicious part of this whole trainwreck was watching them trip over their own narratives. Phillip, ever the bastion of objectivity, tried to pin Girdusky down on blaming Biden for rising crime, even though he never said that. She was so desperate to shoehorn him into the Republican-villain box that she just invented an argument he didn’t make. You can almost hear her gears grinding—how dare someone present facts that don’t fit the storyline?
I mentioned the Ferguson and Floyd Effect on CNN… surprisingly, none of the Democrats on the panel had ever heard of it. pic.twitter.com/DckpbqzElS
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) October 16, 2024
This entire episode shows exactly what’s wrong with the mainstream media today. They’re so invested in their carefully crafted narratives that when someone like Girdusky comes along with inconvenient truths, they panic. Instead of engaging with the facts, they dismiss them out of hand, accuse the person of lying, and then double down on the narrative. The problem is, when your own network has previously confirmed the facts you’re denying, it’s hard to keep the illusion going for long.
So, there you have it—another day, another example of the media burying the truth to keep their bias intact. If only they’d listen to their own reporting once in a while.