Cast the character or situation holding an opposing view to their narrative in the most ridiculous way, and then shape the story to make the only logical decision one that confirms their narrative.
And this goes on day after day, week after week in many of those shows.
We were having a discussion with inlaws recently about all this. The topic turned to "abortion". One of the ladies who is quite religious, but very liberal was asked if she knew what really happened with a partial birth abortion. She said no. When it was explained to her, the response was "That's Fox News propaganda and I refuse to believe that"
This is what the propaganda press did to Mulvaney. They asked the same question many times, each one trying for the perfect when -did -you -stop -beating - your - wife expression. I think he just got frustrated and rushed that comment. The press won their sound bite, to be further framed by a long and biased introductory narrative so the LIV will really believe that Trump did a criminal act. These same LIVers will never see the Biden video,