CNN tried it.

On Saturday, the 24-hour global news network aired a segment entitled “5 Freshman Congresswomen Who Changed History This Week.” In it, CNN’s Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash spoke with Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia. Collectively the women go by the name the “badasses.”

“I think badasses kind of came organically from the group since we all had either served in the military or in the CIA,” Houlahan told Bash, who began interviewing the friends prior to Nancy Pelosi’s decision to open up an impeachment inquiry into the Trump administration.

At the time the women, who represent traditionally red districts, were against a Trump impeachment. However, after Trump’s phone call to Ukranian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, “The Badasses” say they had to act. The freshman Democrats penned an op-ed in The Washington Post, CNN coined them history makers and Twitter — well Twitter wasn’t buying any of it.

Because contrary to what CNN believes, anybody whose been paying attention to politics since the start of the Trump presidency knows that calls for impeachment started well before these freshman lawmakers were elected into Congress. Maxine Waters, just days after the inauguration, said the “illegitimate President” undermined our democracy and presented a danger to the country. Therefore, he needed to be impeached.

After the 2018 midterms ushered in the most racially diverse group of representatives, four Congresswomen of color, who jointly go by “The Squad,” loudly joined the impeachment chorus. And yet with all the Black and Brown women who have been vocal about impeachment since the start, CNN chose not to sit down with any of them for their story. In fact, the only mention of them was a not-so-subtle shade about the way they conduct themselves in the halls of Congress.

“None of us is ever going to get in a Twitter war with anyone else,” Slotkin told CNN. “If we have a concern with someone, we’re going to go right up and talk to them about it and we’re not going to add unhelpful rhetoric to an already bad tone coming out of Washington.”

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 15: U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks as reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) listen during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on the four progressive Democratic congresswomen, saying that if they’re not happy in the U.S. “they can leave.” (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

Well, Twitter thought the entire CNN piece presented a bad tone, and they certainly weren’t here for what many deemed a “whitewashing” of history. They made that pretty clear.

What the actual fuck is this whitewashing? “Leaders on impeachment” were @RepMaxineWaters, @RashidaTlaib, @AOC & @IlhanMN. And they were treated as inconvenient troublemakers by Dem leadership for their correct, early, consistent (& appropriately profane) calls for impeachment. https://t.co/02gPoQauZK — Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) September 29, 2019

Whitewashing much here, Dana? 🙄 — caltexicana (@caltexicana) September 29, 2019

Black and brown people have been leading the charge for this for a long behind time now. And these Johnny Come lately(s) are the people who give credit to. You are so gross Dana Bash. — JoeyTheRedKangaroo🦘 (@JoeyTheRedKRoo1) September 29, 2019

This is a shameful piece that whitewashes the history of fighting against this white supremacist administration and their crimes; and elevates white moderates who took absolutely zero risks as they took their damn time to do the right thing. You should be ashamed. — a k 86 (@uizapunk) September 29, 2019

Congresswoman Maxine Waters was one of (if not) the first to call for impeachment. In fact, 45 called her out for it. In fact, Cult45 threatened Auntie Max for it. You guys will always try to rewrite history to erase the accomplishments of Black women to extol White people. pic.twitter.com/amDAEEpOGM — Devin Nunes' Black Friend Who Only Has 1 Line (@WingersSo) September 28, 2019

This is a shameful effort to rewrite history as it happens. It’s not remotely accurate and borders on white supremacist propaganda in its complete erasure of BIPOC and refusal to contextualize these centrists who did not act until it was politically expedient to do so. — Lisa Yriberry Reist✨🥄✨ (@lisamreist) September 29, 2019

And even though respected journalist Dan Rather didn’t specifically say he was responding to the CNN story, his words, which came in the aftermath of the segment, pretty much sums up what many people know to be true. “Some of the earliest and strongest calls for impeachment came from women and men of color,” the former CBS Evening News anchor tweeted out on Sunday. “When the history of this period is written their voices of moral clarity must not be diminished.”

Some of the earliest and strongest calls for impeachment came from women and men of color. When the history of this period is written their voices of moral clarity must not be diminished. — Dan Rather (@DanRather) September 29, 2019

Enough said.

