The hashtag #CNNIsTrash has returned — and for good reason.

Late Wednesday afternoon, a paid CNN analyst posted a completely made-up, fictional conversation between two GOP senators to Twitter.

Look:

Overheard convo between two Republican Senators who only watch Fox News. “is this stuff real? I haven’t heard any of this before. I thought it was all about a server. If half the stuff Schiff is saying is true, we’re up shit’s creek. Hope the White House has exculpatory evidence — Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) January 22, 2020

“Overheard convo between two Republican Senators who only watch Fox News,” former Clinton administration press secretary Joe Lockhart, a man who now decades later is paid by CNN for his “analysis,” claimed in his tweet.

The conversation between GOP senators that he allegedly overheard went like this: “Is this stuff real? I haven’t heard any of this before. I thought it was all about a server. If half the stuff Schiff is saying is true, we’re up shit’s creek. Hope the White House has exculpatory evidence.”

But as Lockhart soon admitted in a follow-up tweet posted 10 minutes later, this conversation never even happened …

Ok maybe I made up the convo, but you know that’s exactly what they’re thinking. — Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) January 22, 2020

Not a chance. Not this time. It never happened. We made this one up. It’s fiction. (Jonathan Frakes) pic.twitter.com/S6P4ZpVylB — Vlipsy – Reaction Videos (@ReactionVlips) October 21, 2019

Hey! Look at that! CNN is literally #FakeNews and #CNNisTrash ! Thanks for confirming this for us! — JoshInWyatt (@JoshInWyatt1) January 22, 2020

But by then the damage had already been done, as the completely fictional, made-up conversation had already been retweeted by thousands of unsuspecting dupes, including pretend conservative Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post:

Lockhart’s stunning lie seems to give a whole new meaning to the phrase “CNN is fake news.” As does the fact that, despite this made-up conversation being a malicious lie and smear equivalent to the lies CNN told last year about Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, the tweet remained active as of Thursday morning.

More notable still is the total silence from CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, who purports to be a watchdog for the media but invariably acts only as a watchdog for conservative and non-establishment media, particularly Fox News.

It’s especially telling given Stelter’s obsession with so-called “disinformation” and “misinformation,” both of which he’s falsely attributed solely to non-establishment media.

To hear him tell it, conservative and non-establishment media outlets, including any outlets that defend President Donald Trump, are pro-Trump propaganda organs that maliciously peddle “disinformation” and “misinformation” to the public:

HBO just announced something I’ve been working on for a couple of years: A documentary titled “AFTER TRUTH: DISINFORMATION AND THE COST OF FAKE NEWS.” The film will premiere on TV and online this March. Directed by @a_rossi! — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 15, 2020

“We have this alternative media ecosystem that is driving a lot of disinformation. It is not understood by journalists or anyone really beyond a very small group of people who are really engaged with it,” @EliotHiggins says https://t.co/RWi2Mqy8jV — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 27, 2019

Colbert: “Our president wants to live in a fantasy world where only the way he perceives the world is the way it is, only the things that sort of serve his vision, and he’s also trying to convince us that that is the only world that exists…” pic.twitter.com/cYRk4bkNnh — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 15, 2019

Never mind the actual facts …

– Including the fact that “disinformation” and “misinformation” are often the fruits of establishment media outlets like CNN.

– As well as the fact that whenever outlets like CNN are caught red-headed spreading bullschiff, Stelter and his team members, including senior media reporter Oliver Darcy (who appears to basically be his apprentice), say nothing.

Regarding Lockhart’s clear-cut “disinformation” and “misinformation,” for instance, Stelter and his crew have again said nothing:

Maybe Gutfeld or someone needs to put that Lockhart tweet on a Fox show so someone at CNN sees what their contributor is doing. @oliverdarcy? @brianstelter? Guys? — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 22, 2020

Hey @brianstelter, as a very serious “journalist” do you have any thoughts on your colleague (a former Clinton staffer, of course) sharing a totally made up quote? Maybe cover this on the next episode of Unreliable Sources? https://t.co/bIexPfFeqm — Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 22, 2020

Timely reminder that Joe Lockhart was discussing impeachment on “reliable sources” with @brianstelter last Sunday. https://t.co/OG49KZK6AI — James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) January 22, 2020

Vacation time again I guess, @brianstelter — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 22, 2020

Ah that would be why. Little busy right now. pic.twitter.com/bZ8VCfBVqw — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 23, 2020

The irony is that Lockhart is as obsessed with alleged “disinformation” and “misinformation” as Stelter. In fact, he runs his own podcast titled, “Words Matter” podcast that’s ostensibly “[d]edicated to truth, facts and objective reality.”

But it’s not clear what lies, smears and completely made-up conversations have to do with “truth, facts and objective reality” …

So the host of a podcast entitled “Words Matter” that is apparently dedicated to “truth and facts” throws out a fake tweet that gets thousands of RT’s and Likes and then says for everyone to relax… It’s impossible to parody. https://t.co/rRHBr1fbuF — Brandt Anderson (@BrandtAnderson) January 23, 2020

Lockhart has defended his tweet on the grounds that it’s “satire” …

That’s funny, because just a few weeks ago, his colleague, CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan, moaned about The Babylon Bee’s conservative satire, complaining in a tweet that “[a] lot of people” who share the site’s work “don’t know it is satire.”

Look:

To put this in perspective, this is the same number of engagements the top NY Times and CNN stories on Facebook had over the past week. A lot of people sharing this “satirical” story on Facebook don’t know it is satire. https://t.co/HnDjuqw2si — Donie O’Sullivan (@donie) January 5, 2020

It’ll be interesting to see whether O’Sullivan has anything to say about Lockhart’s poorly labeled brand of so-called “satire” …