A debate over slavery and the Electoral College turned into must-see-TV after a conservative commentator was humiliated on CNN’s “NewsNight” when an argument over slavery’s role in the formation of the Electoral College erupted into a verbal brawl.
It happened Monday, June 22, when CNN contributor Ana Navarro and MAGA talk show host Jason Rantz butted heads, with Navarro proclaiming “You absolutely got schooled” by fellow panelist Charles Blow.
The conversation with host Abby Phillip centered on a new Netflix documentary featuring former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
In the miniseries “The American Experiment,” Clinton called the Electoral College “an abomination.”
“Well, I personally think the Electoral College is an abomination,” Clinton explained before adding, “for obvious reasons.”
Clinton lost the 2016 election to President Donald Trump based on the Electoral College outcome, but she won the popular vote by three million votes, essentially trouncing Trump.
The prevailing ideology behind the system implemented by the Founding Fathers is that the Electoral College dilutes the voting strength of larger and more populous states in presidential and vice presidential elections.
It gives smaller states an outsized vote in deciding those national elections.
But it is also directly tied to slavery through something called the Three-Fifths Compromise. The compromise in 1787 gave smaller slave-holding states in the South disproportionate political power, according to the League of Women Voters.
These smaller slave states inflated their populations by declaring slaves three-fifths of a person, despite denying those individuals basic human rights or voting rights. Basically, every white person was counted as a whole person, and an enslaved individual was counted as three-fifths of a person, inflating the population of the state.
They did this because the U.S. Constitution awarded Electoral College votes based on the number of the state’s congressional representatives.
On CNN Navarro argued that the Electoral College is “archaic” that it “make no sense and is rooted in slavery,” but to eliminate it would require a constitutional amendment.
That’s when Rantz jumped in, arguing, “It’s not going to happen. Just to be clear, it wasn’t founded because of slavery. That’s just factually inaccurate.”
Rantz repeated tried and true talking points that the system was founded based on the rural population in those days and that a slate of electors was needed to cast the ballots in Washington because of the time it took to bring voting results from the states to the Capitol.
“The reasons behind it had a lot to do with the size of the country and the lack of technology to actually reach everyone at the time. That’s why the Electoral College came out,” Rantz continued arguing.
That’s when author and commentator Blow jumped in.
“We’re not going to let that lie stand,” Blow interjected.
“It’s not a lie. It’s not rooted,” an angry Rantz insisted.
Blow methodically pulled apart Rantz’s argument explaining the Three-Fifths Compromise even as Rantz still tried to justify his stance.
Rantz’s attempt to walk back a key point in his argument ignited more fury from the panel. “I’m not arguing that slavery didn’t play any part….,” Rantz said before Blow shouted back “You just said…” with Navarro in the background adding, “Roll the tape!”
Moments later Navarro declared, “You just got schooled on national TV.”
Rantz tried to reject her statement. “Nobody was schooled. You act like —”
Navarro shot back, “You were absolutely schooled! Your ignorance was revealed.”
Blow took to social media after the discussion wondering, “Is it too much to ask for a conservative debate partner who sticks to the truth for the whole hour?”
“I tried to throw this man some rope when he said the Electoral College wasn’t rooted in racism. Take the word ‘rooted’ off the table — surely you’re not saying the Electoral College had NOTHING to do with slavery. He then said exactly that, so I had to school him on national TV.”
Others piled on, “Why is a know-nothing, intellectually dishonest dipsh-t like @jasonrantz being given a national platform?”
“I love nothing more than watching @jasonrantz get cooked,” another X user agreed.
This X user was stark, “KEEP YOUR FOOT ON THEIR LYING ASS NECKS AND …”
This poster may have said it best, “Charles, you are doing the country a great service on CNN by pointing out how the mediocre maga cult members (guest)are consistently uninformed/uneducated or flat out lying night after night. Keep making them uncomfortable lying to the American people.”
