CNN Tries to Top AOC With Hot Takes on Christmas That Have People Talking

I guess some people decided they didn't want Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to have the inside track for the worst take of the say on Jesus and Christmas.

Unfortunately, CNN featured a couple of truly bad takes that may just rival AOC for how bad they are.

One was this take from the Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb. To be fair, he was quoting a Lutheran pastor's take; it wasn't his original words.

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— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) December 25, 2023

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— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) December 25, 2023

Some on the right noted Gaza is not anywhere near Bethlehem, and there were a lot of responses questioning CNN's understanding of geography.

I don't think the guy who said it — the Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac — was confused about geography since he was speaking from Bethlehem. I think the greater issue was he was using it as an indictment of Israel for the bombing response and an effort to make Jesus somehow Palestinian. This was why it was being spread by many on the left who were anti-Israel. They're wrong if they were trying to manipulate Christmas to fit a political agenda. Jesus was a Jew born in Bethlehem because he was of the line and House of David, according to the Gospel of Luke. They went to Bethlehem to be counted for the tax. Jesus' birth in Bethlehem was also in line with Micah 5:2, that out of Bethlehem would be born "one who will be ruler over Israel."

The pastor, Munther Isaac, even called Israel's response to Hamas a "genocide."

That's just not honest, and what "genocide" even means. Genocide means a deliberate attempt to wipe out a people. That's what Hamas is trying to do to Israel. Again, there's no comparison between Hamas invading Israel, slaughtering and kidnapping people, and Israel defending itself after being attacked. In the crossover of bad, AOC also tweeted what this pastor said about Jesus being born in Gaza on her Instagram.

Lamb ended up deleting his tweet, perhaps realizing there was an issue.

But that wasn't the only hot take. There was another one from CNN from Fr. Ed Beck. This seemed to hit every bad liberal take you could imagine.

“The story of Christmas is about a Palestinian Jew born into an occupied country, having to flee as refugees into Egypt.” - Father Edward Beck @FrEdwardBeck on @CNN a few minutes ago. @NY_Arch @CardinalDolan pic.twitter.com/EFVsU3i1p4
— Avi Kaner ابراهيم אבי (@AviKaner) December 25, 2023

“What I'm so struck by is that the story of Christmas is about a Palestinian Jew -- how often do you find those words put together?"

Not very, since it isn't true — Jesus was not a Palestinian. "Palestine" didn't exist, and Jesus was born a Jew in Judea. Moreover, "Palestine" is a term derived from Roman occupiers.

"Born into a time when his country was occupied, They can't even find a place for her to give birth, his mother. They're homeless. They eventually have to flee as refugees. To Egypt, no less. You can't make up the parallels to our current world situation right now."

Again, no. They fled to Egypt because Herod was assassinating babies because he was told the "King of the Jews" was going to be born, and he didn't want to be challenged. Not the "King of the Palestinians." Notice again, that's left out of this story. Then, calling them "refugees" is another questionable thing. They were still in the empire in Egypt, so this is the equivalent of going from New Jersey to California. Not refugees in terms of how the word is generally meant today.

They were NOT homeless. They didn't have a place to stay that day in Bethlehem because they were in a crowded city of all the people coming to be counted for the tax, which is why they were in Bethlehem, to begin with. It would be the equivalent of calling people homeless because they couldn't find a hotel room for the night.

Finally, that isn't the story of Christmas. Just like what I said about AOC, he's missing the real "story of Christmas," at least in this clip. The real story about Christmas is about Jesus being born into this world to save us. That's the point of the day — not politics.

CNN endorsing a political agenda like this, particularly on Christmas, is offensive.

This guy had the face of most people listening to this, I think.