In exercising projection, CNN’s so-called “Reliable Sources” sought to decry President Trump’s “imperial presidency” on Sunday by emphasizing how there was no such thing as “right-wing media” vs. “liberal-media,” but, in fact, it was a “propaganda apparatus” vs. a “media apparatus.” Yes, it was the same show that said Trump had killed more people than Hitler, Stalin, and Mao combined, claimed the “future of the Earth” hung on Trump’s removal from office, and insisted Trump was a “destructive cult” leader.

Things took an absurd turn when CNN columnist Jill Filipovic argued that both sides of the media divide were not equal in terms of searching for the truth. “I think we have a propaganda apparatus and I think we have a media apparatus that is trying to tell the truth and tell the whole story,” she opined before equating it to McCarthyism:

And what I think is particularly fascinating is how much that right-wing propaganda apparatus has become so deeply intertwined with Trumpism, that it not only primed the audience for Trump to rise to power, but it’s now repeating the kind of Trump/Roy Cohn playbook of lie, disseminate misinformation -- Like the quote that you had up on the screen, you know, minimize, deny, and essentially project what you’re doing onto someone else.

Unironically, she made that proclamation shortly after Princeton University history professor Julian Zelizer claimed Trump was the head of an “imperial presidency.” But, as any rational person would tell you, President Trump was not an emperor and was duly elected by the American people.

Filipovic continued by describing how “terrifying” it was that right-wing media was so “tremendously effective” at countering the liberal media’s narratives. “It’s terrifying. I don't know where we go from there to come to this kind of universal national agreed-upon truth.” So, according to her, the liberal media spin was “truth.”

Host and media janitor Brian Stelter then asked her comment on Senator Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) op-ed that said Republicans were afraid of “the deep state and a media conspiracy.”

Of course, Filipovic argued that all political, social, and economic fears from Republicans were illegitimate. “They are so much, trying to win on this politics of fear of change. Whereas, Democrats are looking at the state of the country and saying, how can we make sure that our public maintains its values, who can we make sure we live out our obligations to our constitution.”

Meanwhile, back here, in reality, the Department of Justice inspector general found that FBI investigators in the Russia probe had lied to the FISA court to get warrants to spy on Trump campaign aide. And, as a recent Media Research Center study found, the evening network newscasts were stacking the deck against the President’s legal team.

To follow up Filipovic, Stelter brought on someone truly irrelevant: former ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson. For his part, the washed-up journalist lamented that things were not as they were when right-wing media used to seek out the facts.

“Today, we still have journalists, thank goodness, who look for facts, occasionally make a mistake, try to put them out to the public and say, ‘please, look at these and use them.” And then we have Fox and we have Alex Jones and we have Facebook, non-journalists are putting out the same type of propaganda based on nothing. So, there’s no equivalency,” he declared.

Donaldson concluded with this cheesy advice for young journalists: “And I’m just saying to the journalists looking for facts and distribute them, keep fighting, keep going, and don’t be afraid.” The cheesiness was accented by a head turn and a smile.

The transcript is below, click "expand" to read: