CNN Hosts Told They're 'Complicit' in Trump Re-Election in Live Interview

Allan Lichtman, Distinguished Professor at American University, discusses his 13 keys to a successful election campaign on April 13, 2012, in his office at American University in Washington, DC.

Presidential historian Allan Lichtman took aim at CNN's News Central hosts Monday morning for being "complicit" in Donald Trump's political rise amid the presumptive Republican nominee's bid for a second term.

Lichtman, appearing with hosts John Berman and Sara Sidner, shifted gears during his comments about recent polls between Trump and Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.

He believes Trump's remarks during last week's debate should have grabbed more headlines than Biden's much-discussed struggles.

"I love you guys in the media, but I have to say, you are complicit in Donald Trump lying and conning his way to the presidency. All of the attention has been on Biden's faltering debate, but Donald Trump's debate was vastly worse," Lichtman said. "It was based entirely on lies. More than 30 significant lies.

"He threatened our democracy by saying he wouldn't accept the results of a fair election. That he would seek retribution. Why wasn't that the headlines? Why wasn't that the greatest concern from the debate, rather than all of the focus on Joe Biden."

In his rebuke of the media's coverage of Trump, he continued:

"There's an old saying, it's not just the evil people who wreak havoc on the world, it's the good people who don't do enough to stop them. And the media right now is complicit in Donald Trump gaslighting his way to the presidency and threatening our democracy," Lichtman added.

Newsweek emailed CNN for comment on Monday morning.

Lichtman & The Keys to the White House

Lichtman co-created a system called "The Keys to the White House" in 1981 alongside Russian geophysicist Vladimir Keilis-Borok. The only time it failed was in 2000 when the academics had falsely predicted Al Gore would become president.

The system was adapted from an earthquake prediction model and contains a list of 13 true or false statements about an election, including midterm gains, if there is sustained social unrest, existence of a major scandal, economic conditions and more. A loss is typically predicted if six of the 13 keys are against the incumbent.

In 2016, it accurately predicted Trump's win. In 2020, it accurately forecast Trump's loss.

Lichtman believes Biden should remain on the ticket despite continued calls for him to drop out after last week's debate performance. He concludes that Biden leaving the race would ultimately hinder Democrats' chances of keeping the White House since it would remove two of the keys that are currently in their favor — that there is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination and that the incumbent party candidate is the sitting president.

The presidential historian also downplays Biden's recent dips in polling, both among Democratic voters and the overall electorate.

"Polling plays too much of a role in our decision-making. Polls are predictors, not for decision-making," Lichtman said.

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