‘They Aren’t Media Lies!’ CNN’s Dana Bash Smacks Down JD Vance’s Trump Complaint

CNN anchor Dana Bash smacked down Trump running mate Sen. JD Vance’s (R-OH) complaint that “media lies” about former President Donald Trump. color perceptions of him.

Vance made the rounds of the Sunday shows this week, including Sunday morning’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union. In one exchange, Bash confronted Vance about his past comments comparing Trump to Hitler, and Vance chalked it up to “media lies” that made him think poorly of Trump.

Bash pushed back, telling Vance it’s Trump’s own words that form perceptions:

VANCE: But I believe, importantly, that President Trump is right that she’s a chameleon. She pretends to be one thing in front of one audience. She pretends to be something different in front of another audience.

Look, Dana, she’s not running a political campaign. She’s running a movie. She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted. She doesn’t have her policy positions out there. She hasn’t answered why she wanted to ban fracking, but now she doesn’t. She wanted to defund police, but now she doesn’t.

She wanted to open the border, but now she doesn’t. She should have to answer for why she presents a different set of policies to one audience and a different set of policies to another audience. And I think that’s what President Trump is getting at. This is a fundamentally…

BASH: Yes.

VANCE: … fake person. She’s different depending on who she’s in front of.

BASH: With respect…

VANCE: Please.

BASH: … you changed your position on an important thing, which is Donald Trump.

VANCE: Of course I did. And I am honest about it.

BASH: And so why are you not a chameleon?

VANCE: Because, Dana, I have explained to the American people what’s different.

People change their minds. When the facts change, they should. But if you want to be the people’s vice president or president, you should have to stand before an interviewer and say, this is why it changed my mind. So to everybody who’s seen that I criticized Donald Trump, since you asked the question…

BASH: Mm-hmm.

VANCE: … here are two things about…

BASH: You didn’t just criticize him. You said he could be America’s Hitler.

VANCE: Well, that’s a criticism. And I didn’t say that exactly. But set that to the side.

What I — what I said about Donald Trump and what I believed about Donald Trump, two things that really changed. First of all, I didn’t think Donald Trump would be a good president. He was a great president, where wages were rising, the world was more peaceful.

Remember, when Donald Trump was running for president the first time, they said he would start World War III. He brought more peace to the world than any president in my lifetime.

The second thing, Dana, is, I believed — and I’m ashamed of it — I believed a lot of the media lies about Donald Trump in 2016. I believe that he said things — like, for example, the media said Donald Trump accused all Mexicans of being rapists and criminals. You actually look at what he said, he did not say that at all.

And I think it’s important, when you see something, you change your mind. And that’s all I have done.

And my pitch to the American people would be, I imagine a lot of folks who are thinking about voting for Donald Trump in 2024, maybe they’ve bought in to the media lies about him. Think for yourself. Look at what he actually said. And I think you’ll find that he’s, one, a very engaging guy, but, two, was a very good president.

BASH: There aren’t media lies. He — we play him, and we let him speak for himself. And so people are getting exactly of what the…

VANCE: I’m not accusing you of lying, Dana.

BASH: No, I know. I know.

VANCE: You know I like you, but…

BASH: No, I know you’re not.

VANCE: … the media lies from time to time…

BASH: I know you’re not.

VANCE: … about Donald Trump.

BASH: But people — people hear him for himself.

Watch above via CNN’s State of the Union.

Have a tip for us? tips@mediaite.com