"Networks are Colluding" to Declare Clinton the Overall Winner Before California Polls Close

by Gaius Publius

The writer of the quoted part of the headline above is Shaun King. Here's the quote in full and in context.

When a grown man tells you he is about to start trouble, believe him.

What followed, if Matthews is to be taken at his word, is clear evidence that television networks are colluding together to call the primary for Hillary Clinton before she reaches the delegates needed to claim victory. By doing so, they will absolutely suppress the vote in the final states that will be cast ballots in the Democratic primary. Even by mentioning it now, that the networks have already set the date and time they are calling the race for Hillary, what Matthews has done runs the very real risk of suppressing voter turnout. It's disgusting.

That date and time is 8:00 pm Eastern time, 5:00 pm Pacific time, on June 7, the night of the California primary. (Also the night of five other primaries or caucuses and the last-but-one night of Democratic Party voting.)

Here's the Matthews quote from the video above:

MATTHEWS: This what I call "trouble," [what] I'm about to start [saying or asking] here.

I'm told by the experts on numbers around here on NBC and elsewhere that come June 7, the day of the California primary — which your candidate [pointing to Jeff Weaver], I totally understand, wants to get to and maybe has a chance to knock off Hillary at that event, a big last hurrah — that at 8:00 that night Eastern time, that the networks will be prepared, including this one, to announce that Hillary Clinton has gotten over the top, that she will have won the nomination in numbers. It's done.

What will that do to turnout, if that's 5:00 Pacific time with three more hours to vote in California? Who will be least likely to vote, Sanders people from five to eight [o'clock] or Hillary. I've heard both theories.

Weaver answers the question in the only way that makes sense — that the announcement will be wrong, because the superdelegates don't vote until the convention. But that's not the point here. Forget Matthew's foolish question ("What will that do to turnout?") and read the intro to it.

If Matthews is right, so is my headline, and so is Shaun King. The establishment, corporate-owned "networks are colluding" to declare Hillary Clinton the overall Democratic winner before California polls close. And they know it will affect turnout; they just aren't sure whose.

An Establishment-Rigged System

After explaining in full what Weaver said above in short, King closes with this:

What the Democratic Party, and apparently the television networks, do not want people to know is that superdelegates, and not the American voters, are going to choose who this nominee is. ...

This - all of this - is why supporters of Bernie Sanders so often say the system is rigged. It clearly looks that way.

It's not just the Democratic Party that is tilting the table in Clinton's direction, though. Notice, if Matthews is right, what the establishment networks are planning to do. Even Politico gives the game away (my emphasis):

Clinton could lose California, where the polls close three hours later, after she has already won the nomination [with the delegates won in New Jersey].

Whatever possessed Matthews to admit to all this? And will they carry through, the networks? Maybe not, after this. But still, maybe so. Either way, you have been warned. The networks are talking about, once again, making news, not just breaking it. What they will be breaking instead is their reputations as news organizations.

With every Sanders Democrat and independent watching ... very very closely.

GP