If you haven’t heard by now, there are videos of Nancy Pelosi going around, some obviously doctored (i.e. slowed down 75% to where even the biggest moron can tell it’s not real) and some just spliced together like any other montage. The President shared one of the edited videos and this set off a firestorm in the media. The rush defend her honor and root for censorship was swift at places like CNN, The Washington Post, and MSNBC.

After years of edited videos making fun of Trump (and plenty of other Republicans), it was suddenly completely off limits for the favor to be returned to a figure like Pelosi. Never mind that Pelosi has personally questioned Trump’s sanity and suggested he should be removed from office via the 25th amendment, essentially calling for a coup. But don’t you dare suggest Pelosi is losing it. That’s a bridge too far.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper decided to have on Facebook’s Vice President to scold her for not immediately taking down the videos.

In a CNN Exclusive, Monika Bickert, Facebook VP for Product Policy and Counterterrorism, explains why the social media site hasn't removed a manipulated video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. https://t.co/tr9QRDcAZE pic.twitter.com/fOeMQaepSu — Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) May 25, 2019

Anderson Cooper Grills Facebook Exec Over Pelosi Video: 'Shouldn’t You Just Get Out of the News Business' If You Can't Do It Well https://t.co/d6r9PtTECu — Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 25, 2019

"If you're in the news business, which you are, you gotta do it right, and this is false information you are spreading," @andersoncooper told this Facebook VP, after Facebook doubled down on keeping the fake Pelosi video online. She replied that Facebook is not in the news biz. https://t.co/F7aJA09lIC — Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) May 25, 2019

He realizes he works for CNN right? If the standard is doing it right, they should close up shop tonight because they come nowhere near that threshold. The bias in our media is incredible to witness at times and this was probably the least self-aware moment I’ve ever witnessed on cable news.

She replied correctly. CNN doesn't even hold their own employees to the standard they are now demanding FB hold random users to. Jim Acosta still has at least one provably false tweet up from this week. Where is the CNN demand that Twitter ban his account? https://t.co/Uitw0CFQ38 — (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) May 25, 2019

Facebook is also not a news site. Since when is it there job to take down parody videos that are obviously parodies? Claiming it’s false information is the kind of pearl clutching we’ve come to expect from CNN . Of course, when Jimmy Kimmel, just last week, shared a “Drunk Trump” doctored video, CNN didn’t care at all. The current outrage is as faux as it gets.

With all that said, I’m gonna piss some people off and give my opinion on all of this. Namely, that Trump engaging Pelosi like this is politically stupid. It’s akin to when he took swipes at an already dead John McCain. You can’t win that battle and you probably shouldn’t try.

There’s only so much oxygen in the room and Pelosi clearly, 100% wants this fight to suck it all up. She knows that the more she baits Trump into lashing out at her, the more she can then paint him as impulsive and out of control. That’s the Democrat’s entire message for 2020. They can’t run on the economy or foreign policy. They certainly can’t run on their left-wing ideas about climate change and guns. But what they can run on is that Trump is too unstable to continue being President.

When Trump responds to Pelosi calmly setting a trap for him, he plays right into the Democrat’s hands. We aren’t talking about the economy, the 14 year old who was killed by MS-13 illegals aliens, or the crisis at the border. Instead, we are slap fighting over who’s more senile and Pelosi will win that fight. Why? Because she only has to convince a bunch of crazy people in San Francisco. Trump has to appeal to the entirely of the country (outside of deep blue states at least) and while Pelosi prods him with a calm demeanor, Trump’s responses come off as verbose and over the top.

Engaging Pelosi this way makes him look chaotic and that’s exactly what she wants. It doesn’t comfort the suburban swing districts that Trump helped lose in 2018. It doesn’t give people on the fence who grinned and bared it in 2016 the confidence to vote for him again. It allows Democrats to go out and say “see, this guy is volatile.”

The people who are going to angrily comment on this article need to realize that Trump already has your vote. Right now he’s losing by 10+ points in the three most important battleground states (WI, MI, and PA). He’s getting trounced nationally as well. And before you say the polls are wrong, remember that Trump was only losing to Hillary by an average of 3 points on election night in 2016. Right now, he’s getting absolutely blown out and the more he focuses on sniping at Pelosi, the less he focuses on making his case to the voters he needs to win re-election.

Again, it’s clear Pelosi wants this fight. She is purposely suckering him with her public comments and whereas Trump has the opportunity to re-direct in his favor, he’s instead choosing to have Twitter wars with people that don’t matter. Hillary Clinton is not on the ballot this time. If Trump doesn’t get smarter about how he trains his fire over the next few months, he’s going to further narrow his path to victory.

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