Condoleezza Rice Halts Savannah Guthrie's Suggestion That Russia Helped Trump Win 2016 Election
It barely merited an answer.
“Today Show” host Savannah Guthrie used an interview Wednesday to try to breathe new life into the liberal boogeyman that President Donald Trump is somehow in the Oval Office as a product of Russian interference.
But Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state, former national security advisor, and one of the most accomplished women in modern American politics, gave her question more than it deserved — much more.
Guthrie, a liberal so reliable she was trusted as a moderator for NBC’s Democratic primary debates, tried to smear the results of the 2016 election with a question that strongly intimated Trump has no business being in the White House.
It didn’t get very far.
Guthrie was nearing the end of an interview with Rice and Philip Zelikow, executive director of the 9/11 Commission and a named author of “The 9/11 Commission Report,” about their new book, “To Build a Better World: Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth,” when the conversation turned to the 2016 election — and ensuring the security of future elections.
“Do you think it’s possible that Russia’s election interference actually worked?” Guthrie asked.
“It actually elected Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton?”
Rice didn’t miss a beat before brushing the idea away — with gratifying finality.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence of that,” Rice replied.
“And, you know, I really don’t think that’s a good conversation to have. I think that really does devalue the people in Wisconsin and Michigan and others who decided to vote for President Trump.
“Whether you like this president or not, whether you believe that he should have been president or not, let’s give the credit to the Americans who went out and voted for somebody who they thought would bring change.”
Rice was scrupulously polite, but the message was clear:
Not only was the question unwarranted, it was actually an insult to the millions of Americans who deliberately chose Trump over Hillary Clinton, the anointed favorite of the ruling classes of both parties, the liberal news media and the dominant forces in American culture.
And she had plenty of supporters on social media.
.@CondoleezzaRice schools @SavannahGuthrie after the @TODAYshow host wonders if Russia elected Trump pic.twitter.com/KpU6q3YLfi
— Kyle Drennen (@kjdrennen) September 11, 2019
Guthrie claiming to be a journalist is like me claiming to be a Victoria Secrets Angel. She is a biased, dishonest clown working in the service of biased, dishonest clowns @NBCNews who can’t let Russia go.
It’s a joke this question was asked. Glad Rice put her in her place.
— BonkPolitics (@BonkPolitics) September 11, 2019
Since Russia is always trying to create chaos and discontent, perhaps the real questi9n is whether Savannah Guthrie is an unknowing or will participant in Russian disinformation, or just another useful idiot?
— Woofle Jelly (@huntsvut) September 11, 2019
“Decided by a handful of votes in a few states…” What? Good grief, Guthrie is the consummate hack.
— ❌ Bobby Dread ❌ (@bobby_dread) September 11, 2019
That last one hit it on the head.
Guthrie prefaced the question with a reference to how close the 2016 vote was in key states, but she ignored the fact that alone proved how silly the idea was. It wasn’t just a few thousand voters in battleground states who elected Donald Trump.
It was more than 63 million American voters who turned out to say they’d had enough of a statist government that seemed more interested in strangling the vibrancy of America than in fostering its growth — that all but predicted a decline in the future of the United States that would never match the history that’s the envy of the world.
Rice, never a shy one when it comes to handling liberal interviewers, understands that.
It’s doubtful Guthrie — or her liberal colleagues in the mainstream media — ever really will.
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