Free Republic

John Avlon is CNN’s resident spitballer-in-chief, a guy with the personality of a snarky high school sophomore. Follow him for a while, and you’ll see that in virtually every appearance, he manages to work in a provocative line that you suspect he worked on before the lights came on. On CNN this morning, commenting on the allegation in Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” that President Trump would at times have cheeseburgers in bed at 6:30 pm, Avlon said: “Sounds like a portrait of clinical depression to me.” Except that . . . Get the rest of the story and view...

On CNN this morning, Daily Beast editor-in-chief and CNN political analyst John Avlon painted a very dark picture of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his potential use of data provided to the federal government by “Dreamers.” Said Avlon: “They are facing deportation after they gave their information and their addresses to the federal government. And all of a sudden now, Jeff Sessions . . . is in a position to weaponize that data, and go after these Dreamers, in a way that could be incredibly ugly in six months and is sinister.”View the video here.

After Tuesday’s heated press conference over Charlottesville, the media has been in a renewed frenzy over Trump’s comments. Over at CNN, the outrage seemed to be at its worst, with hosts sounding just like their radically left-wing guests. On the 7am hour of CNN’s New Day, fill-in host Poppy Harlow actually asked liberal reporter and CNN analyst April Ryan if Trump's slogan “Make America Great Again” was referring to the days when the KKK terrorized the South. The panel discussion started between the Daily Beast’s John Avlon, CNN political analysts David Gregory and April Ryan, and hosts Chris Cuomo and...

The opening of CNN’s 6 AM hour this morning was one, long lollapalooza of Trump-bashing. Led by co-host Chris Cuomo, panelists David Gregory, Chris Cillizza, and John Avlon took turns whacking the Trump piñata. [snip] Lowlights: “The White House’s apparent inability to tell the truth.” “I heard one of the conservatives say, it’s not just about the base. It’s about the fact that the president is being base.” “It’s about damn time” for a Republican backlash against Trump. “They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.” “He looks like he’s got something to hide.” “It cannot be said enough, how...

On CNN this morning, Daily Beast editor-in-chief and CNN analyst John Avlon said that President Trump is “trying to back channel the Saturday Night Massacre.” That was a reference to the episode during the Watergate investigation, in which President Nixon ordered the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox, leading to the resignations of the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, who refused to carry out Nixon’s order. Avlon painted a scenario in which, under pressure from President Trump, Sessions resigns. Trump would then appoint a new attorney general who would declare himself capable of carrying out the Russia investigation, cast...

On Sunday, July 2, President Trump tweeted out a meme of himself wrestling WWE Chairman Vince McMahon with the CNN logo over his face. That same day, CNN’s Brian Stelter took to his show Reliable Sources where he and his panel of liberal reporters decried Trump as “dangerous” and a “fascists.” A full week later, Stelter and another stacked panel of journalists were defending CNN’s legally questionable tactics of tracking down the meme creator and threating to reveal his identity. In addition to that, they slammed the outlet’s critics and conflated them with those sending threats of violence to journalists....

Yeah, CNN threatened to out the guy who made the CNN wrestling meme. But the threat, according to CNN, was just some language that the legal suits stuck into the CNN statement. So if you complain about it, you’re just part of a social-media “mob” that is falsely playing the victim. That was the argument made on Reliable Sources hosted by CNN’s Brian Stelter. John Avlon of the Daily Beast, a CNN analyst, warned the media not to let the criticism “distract” them from the “real issue”: President Trump’s tweet of the wrestling GIF. View the video here.

Appearing as a guest on Thursday morning's CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello, CNN political commentator and Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon used praise for Ted Cruz's ads and social media campaign to take an underhanded swipe at the GOP presidential candidate by suggesting that, unlike the ads, he is not "effective" or "charming." His jab at Cruz inspired laughter from host Costello as she mildly chided him for being "kind of harsh." The exchange came at 10:21 a.m. ET during a discussion of a Cruz campaign ad using humor to attack Donald Trump over the issue of his past...

Call me a cynic, but I've been dubious about just how accidental were President Obama's supposedly "hot mic" remarks about his budget negotations with the Republicans. Does a president who has been frequently criticized for a lack of toughness really mind being "caught" sounding muy macho? My skepticism was sharpened by GMA's report on the matter this morning. The graphic referred to Obama's "tough talk." And for good measure, John Avlon of the lefty Daily Beast was imported to declare that the president's supposedly candid performance "heightens his reputation for leadership." I know what you're thinking: what reputation? View video...

On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think he's a socialist, 57 percent a Muslim—and 24 percent say "he may be the Antichrist." To anyone who thinks the end of the health-care vote means a return to civility, wake up.Obama Derangement Syndrome—pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism—has infected the Republican Party. Here's new data to prove it: 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist. The belief that Obama is a “domestic enemy” is widely held—a sign of trouble yet to...