Breitbart News was very much on the minds of CNN’s political commentators at Sunday night’s second presidential debate, with senior correspondents describing Donald Trump as having used a “Breitbart strategy” to rebound from the first debate.
First up was political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, who commented on the press conference Trump held before the debate with four of Bill Clinton’s female accusers, to highlight how Hillary Clinton attacked them: “It’s a tough argument. And you’ve seen Breitbart and other outlets make this case for many, many years.”
Next, CNN’s chief national correspondent, John King, reported that Republican leaders were opposed to the press conference: “They’re aghast. They don’t think it is the right strategy. They think he is having a Breitbart TV reality show before the second presidential debate.”
After the debate, as CNN’s senior reporters expressed their horror that Trump had called for appointing a special prosecutor to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton, King said that Trump had been “listening to his alt-right advisers. This was a Breitbart strategy. From the pre-debate, and through the debate.”
(CNN’s chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, had just compared Trump to Hitler and Stalin in expressing her outrage that Hillary Clinton might be held to the same legal standard as every other American who is entrusted with classified information.)
Finally, CNN anchor Jake Tapper weighted in: “Im sure he will win every online poll. I know that the Breitbart crowd ate this up. My question is: did he win over any suburban households in Philadelphia?”
His co-panelist, CNN contributor and conservative author Jeffrey Lord, said that he thought Trump had, in fact, won support among those voters with his performance.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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