HOT TAKES: CNN's Chris Cillizza Tries Giving Rand Paul a U.S. History Lesson, Probably Now Regrets It

There are many, many, many things we should never accept lectures from CNN over, and defining what this country is and isn’t is definitely one of them.

CNN’s editor-at-large Chris Cillizza, who once infamously declared that “Reporters don’t root for a side. Period,” apparently became fauxfended after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told the New York Times in a Monday piece on how Republicans are “shrugging” over Democratic “warnings of democracy in peril” that “the idea of democracy and majority rule really is what goes against our history and what the country stands for.”

Further, Paul stated, “The Jim Crow laws came out of democracy. That’s what you get when a majority ignores the rights of others.”

There was nothing wrong, zero, nada, with what Paul told the Times. But because everything is stupid, Cillizza responded with this clickbait tweet which to the ignorant who not only don’t know what “democracy” means but who also are not aware that the United States is not a democracy, makes Paul sound like he’s against everyone having a voice at the table:

Rand Paul is not a big fan of, uh, democracy?https://t.co/7ECnwTLpxV

— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) June 14, 2021

Except, well, he’s not a fan of “democracy” for a reason, dude:

Chris Cillizza is not a big fan of, uh, the intent of the Framers. https://t.co/DqR5VSLF56

— Lake Bum (@dustopian) June 14, 2021

Good. We're a republican (small r) form of government, not a democracy. I wish more people understood this and spoke precisely about this instead of throwing the term democracy around, like you are, Chris. This is one of my pet peeve. #democracy #republic Know the difference. https://t.co/JeyYKBIBrv

— Michael D. Brown (@MichaelBrownUSA) June 14, 2021

Ever read The Federalist Papers, bub? https://t.co/B0fvB9414T

— Phineas Fahrquar (@irishspy) June 14, 2021

From The Federalist Papers No. 10 (someone needs to read the whole thing) pic.twitter.com/cMo4zGlqeO

— Mike Glenn (@ilude) June 14, 2021

The funny thing is that if you read the actual article, Cillizza very reluctantly admits that Paul is technically right before he attempts a thin lecture on what Paul supposedly got wrong.

He finished with these two paragraphs, perhaps thinking he’d really hit a home run:

Three things have always been true of Paul: 1) He is utterly convinced he is smarter than just about anyone, 2) He tends to think and talk in broad theoretical terms without considering lived experiences and 3) He loves to create controversy via trolling.

When all three of those character traits combine, you get moments like this from Paul. Moments in which he sounds more like a college student in a late-night riff session over Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” and a lot less like a United States senator.

Three things have always been true of Cillizza: 1) He always thinks Republicans are dangerously wrong and rarely criticizes Democrats when they’re actually wrong (which is often), 2) He tends to think and talk using standard Democratic talking points without considering the parts of U.S. history that are inconvenient to his arguments, and 3) He loves to pretend he’s smarter than everyone else in the room.

When all three of those character traits combine, you get moments like this from Cillizza. Moments in which he sounds more like a self-important spokesman on behalf of the College Democrats for America and a lot less like the objective “reporter” he’s supposed to be.

Then again, considering his piece came out just a few hours after this one did …