Jack Kingston Joins CNN: Is This Fake News?

President Donald Trump’s relationship with Atlanta-based CNN has been rocky, at best, with his labeling of stories from the news outlet as “fake news”.  His press office barred CNN and a few other news organizations from a recent informal press briefing last week.  Conservatives have cheered Trump’s adversarial stance with CNN.  Of course, conservatives jeered President Barack Obama when his administration had their beef with Fox News.

So, hearing that former Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA-01), who was a surrogate for the President during the 2016 election, was hired by CNN as a part-time political commentator was somewhat surprising (fake news!!!).  Here’s the presser sent out by Kingston’s office posted below the fold:

ATLANTA, GA – Former Georgia Congressman and Donald Trump campaign surrogate Jack Kingston has officially joined CNN as a part-time political commentator. Kingston appeared regularly as a guest on the news network in the months leading up to and following the November election, defending conservatism and supporting candidate and President Trump.

“This new role gives me an opportunity to push back on the DC narrative and make sure both sides are heard,” said Kingston. “I appreciate CNN giving me this chance. In the many months that I’ve appeared on their network, CNN has never asked me to modify my opinions or statements.”

“As an activist in politics and someone who came up through the grassroots, we often lose sight of that fact that most Americans aren’t going to county party meetings and state conventions – they’re getting their information by watching and reading the news. So, it’s important to have these open-dialogue discussions about the direction of our country on the major networks.”

CNN is the second highest-rated cable news network in the country and grew by more than 77% in 2016. Jack Kingston represented Georgia’s First District in Congress until 2015, currently serves as Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party Foundation and says he will continue to be active in the conservative cause in Georgia.

In all seriousness, CNN has wanted to syphon some of Fox News’ conservative viewers.  Adding the former Congressman who was a Trump surrogate is a smart move by CNN in its move to court conservative eyeballs.  Will it smooth over the Cold War between the Trump administration and the news network?  Well, it might be a step, but I wouldn’t expect CNN to get a Christmas card from the White House.