PBS likes to pretend they have a conservative host on staff, but Firing Line’s Margaret Hoover is anything but. Between being married to Democratic congressional candidate John Avlon (also a former Republican for CNN) and her Monday comments on CNN News Central, Hoover proved it. And in those comments, she lashed out at one sitting Republican member of Congress and a famous YouTuber looking to unseat a Republican incumbent from the right.
Joining CNN host Kate Bolduan to speak about the House passing massive foreign aid packages and the fallout, Hoover lashed out at Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) over her threat to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from that position:
HOOVER: Look, he didn’t get it done to his point. And then to this question of whether Marjorie Taylor Greene is actually going to pull the trigger on this motion to vacate the threat.
BOLDUAN: What’s the threat? What’s the lingering threat do, do you think?
HOOVER: Well look, she wants to have power and she’s a chaos organizer. I mean, that’s that’s her end game. I mean, she just wanted to have power and be relevant.
But Hoover’s criticisms went too far when she claimed that Greene was “not here for public the policy” but rather “she’s being influenced by Russia.” Without evidence, she asserted, “perhaps there’s an argument there.”
With the topic shifted to Republicans who opposed Greene, Bolduan wanted to talk about embattled Republican incumbent Tony Gonzalez of Texas who was forced into a runoff against popular gun YouTuber Brandan Herrera. Hoover parroted a lie that Herrera was a “neo-Nazi”:
BOLDUAN: I’m wondering what the fight looks like. What’s the “stand up and fight” look like from this, he [Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX)] was suggesting kind of the more moderate Republicans who are serving in the House in an election year. What does that look like now in the six months to?
HOOVER: Well look, for Tony Gonzales, he’s got he has a primary – a runoff election coming in several weeks against a Trump-endorsed neo-Nazi. He might – Meanwhile, he’s in the largest segment of the border. I mean, the only fight he cares about is the border question.
Not only was Herrera not endorsed by former President Trump, but one of the Gonzalez campaign talking points was that Herrera had mocked Trump’s youngest son Barron (which was false) in an apparent effort to get support from Trump voters. And while Hoover was trying to suggest a Trump endorsement of Herrera meant Gonzalez was ‘the good one’ in the race, Gonzalez was endorsed by Trump in the 2020 election.
On Hoover’s accusations of Herrera being a “neo-Nazi,” fact-checks of that claim came back as disinformation. That accusation stems from dishonest claims about his YouTube content. In addition to Gun Meme Reviews and gun safety videos, Herrera also makes videos that examine guns through a historical lens to talk about their manual of arms and what role their country of origin designed them for.
As part of that series, he’s reviewed a lot of firearms from WWII (you can probably see where this is going) and showed images of soldiers using their weapons as B-roll footage. In addition to highlighting guns used by American, British, and Soviet forces, he’s covered guns used by the Germans. Essentially, Herrera has been accused of using “Nazi images” in his videos in the same context that would allow the accusation to be leveled against the History Channel.
Hoover’s antics on CNN were another reason to defund PBS.
The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:
CNN News Central
April 22, 2024
7:54:54 a.m. Eastern(…)
JIM MESSINA: And now we’re saying to the rest of the world, look America can walk and chew a little gum at the same time.
KATE BOLDUAN: But what does it look like? I mean, it’s like really gross, gross gum.
[Laughter]
MARGARET HOOVER: Well, the sausage making is never pretty, Kate. Look, he didn’t get it done to his point. And then to this question of whether Marjorie Taylor Greene is actually going to pull the trigger on this motion to vacate the threat.
BOLDUAN: What’s the threat? What’s the lingering threat do, do you think?
HOOVER: Well look, she wants to have power and she’s a chaos organizer. I mean, that’s that’s her end game. I mean, she just wanted to have power and be relevant. She’s not here for public the policy, although to the extent that she’s being influenced by Russia to influence their public policy, perhaps there’s an argument there.
(…)
7:56:53 a.m. Eastern
BOLDUAN: I’m wondering what the fight looks like. What’s the “stand up and fight” look like from this, he [Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX)] was suggesting kind of the more moderate Republicans who are serving in the House in an election year. What does that look like now in the six months to?
HOOVER: Well look, for Tony Gonzales, he’s got he has a primary – a runoff election coming in several weeks against a Trump-endorsed neo-Nazi. He might – Meanwhile, he’s in the largest segment of the border. I mean, the only fight he cares about is the border question.
(…)