Speaking on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” former NBC anchor Katie Couric commented on Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results, asserting, “How are we going to really, almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump?”
Maher prompted Couric’s remarks by commenting on the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, saying: “As much as I’m worried about these loons who break into government, I’m actually more worried about the loons who did get elected, because, I mean, what do you do about these people? There’s 147 Republicans in Congress who still don’t concede that Trump lost the election. What do you do about people who are in the government who don’t believe in our way of government?”
Couric intimated that members of Congress might have colluded in the mob’s action on January 6, claiming, “It is so shocking, not only are they not conceding, Bill, but there’s thoughts that there might have been some collusion among members of Congress. Some are refusing to go through magnometers, or whatever you call them, to check for weapons; they’re not wearing masks during the siege. I mean, it’s really bizarre, isn’t it, when you think about how AWOL so many members of this Congress have gotten.”
“But I also think some of them are believing the garbage that they are being fed 24/7 on the internet, by their constituents, and they’ve bought into this big lie,” she continued. “And the question is: How are we going to really, almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump?”
Katie Couric: "How are we going to really, almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump?" pic.twitter.com/MW5LWN3dOk
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) January 18, 2021
Couric was heavily criticized in 2016 for her role as executive producer of an anti-gun documentary that used manipulated editing in its portrayal of gun rights activists. Variety reported:
The documentary came under scrutiny when it first seemed like a group of gun rights activists were stumped by her question about background checks, taking eight seconds to respond: “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from walking into, say, a licensed gun dealer and purchasing a gun. Audio recordings revealed they, in fact, responded right away.
Kevin Williamson noted the documentary’s approach in National Review:
Couric is under fire (you know, like Hillary Rodham Clinton in Bosnia) for her role in an anti-gun documentary … in which dishonest editing was used to make it look as though pro–Second Amendment activists were unable to answer elementary questions about a gun-rights controversy. This technique is known as “the Jon Stewart.” What you do is take a few seconds (or, in this case, a few minutes) of reaction shots (the footage they shoot of people’s faces while other people are talking) and then insert that non-talking footage after a question is asked: Voilà, the opposition is literally speechless.