CNN, the cable news network once decried by the disgraced former leader of the Third Reich as “lugenpresse,” is being roundly criticized for their decision to air a town hall meeting in the Sudetenland for Adolf Hitler’s campaign.
The network filled the event with a live audience consisting of Nazi Party and fascist-leaning voters and the show quickly went off the rails as host Kaitlyn Collins struggled to maintain control while the brash, boastful architect of the Holocaust that killed over 6 million innocent people continued his public denials.
“That’s fake news,” Hitler repeated falsely. “The beautiful camps, they were work camps, I can tell you that, they worked perfectly, and the people, you know, they like to work,” he claimed without evidence to the raucous cheers of his supporters.
Hitler, who has just been defeated by the Allied forces and signed an unconditional German surrender the day before, refused to acknowledge that he had been the aggressor by invading his neighboring countries, even as Collins pressed him with the terms of the surrender.
“We were a very successful country, maybe the most successful in history,” Hitler stated without providing any proof. “Why would we be invading some loser country like Poland, which, frankly, is really not my type?” Hitler’s supporters laughed, overwhelming Collins’ attempt to refocus on his subsequent invasions of nations like France while calling her “a nasty person.”
One area where Collins managed to pressure Hitler was whether the former Fuhrer, if elected, would sign a bill to officially add Catholics to the Nuremburg Laws, the controversial German edicts declaring Jews, Roma, LGBT, and the disabled unfit for citizenship, reproduction, and so-called “race-mixing.”
“The Nuremburg Laws, such a beautiful thing, a law the likes of which the world has never seen,” Hitler opined. “We are so proud we put such perfect people in the Reichstag to pass the laws.” But Hitler remained evasive about expanding the system of Apartheid that was to be dismantled following the war.
CNN was met with howls of condemnation from politicians and media commentators for platforming the racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic views of the twice-defeated German leader. CNN Chairman Chris Licht defended the program, saying that “Despite the unique circumstances that complicate the presentation of Mr. Hitler’s campaign, he is the acknowledged front-runner for the nomination of the Nazi Party, and therefore, newsworthy.”
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted CNN on Twitter, saying, “CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming Holocaust denial and defenses of German Apartheid. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”
Hitler remains free to run for president and amplified by the news media, despite fomenting a war to conquer all of Europe, slaughtering millions of innocents, and facing numerous civil and criminal trials, because in this alternate timeline, there are no serious consequences for national leaders who commit staggering crimes, there’s a sizable portion of the electorate audience clamoring for fascism, and news media is a capitalistic enterprise concerned only with ratings and quarterly earnings.
