Of the three major cable news networks, only CNN tries to pretend it’s neutral. It’s not and anyone with eyes can see that, of course, but it pretends.

In fact, it even has a couple of resident self-identified Republicans. It’s part of the veneer they use to appear neutral.

However, one of their resident Republicans thinks the GOP needs to shift leftward and be open to things like gun control.

On Sunday morning, Margaret Hoover demonstrated why she is the kind of Republican CNN likes to retain as contributors for the liberal news network as she longed for a Republican party that would support more gun control. Appearing as a panel member during ABC This Week‘s “Powerhouse Round Table” segment, the CNN contributor declared that she “really hopes” that the Joe Biden administration manages to get an infrastructure bill passed that leads to bipartisanship on gun control and other issues.

…

The liberal Republican quickly alluded to a long discredited poll as she claimed that 90 percent of Americans want more gun control:

Yeah, no, it’s really striking, and I really hope we can get some infrastructure done so they have a win on the board for some bipartisan legislation actually at the federal level as well because 90 percent of Americans agree that there’s some basic things we can all do with respect to — to — to gun control.

Hoover — who is also host of PBS’s Firing Line show — then added:

And there are even some reform Republicans out there who are trying to think there what a future there is to what a Republican agenda can look like that includes some kind of gun control. It’s not taking away anybody’s guns — it’s not hitting the Second Amendment — but there are things that can be done that are reasonable things that aren’t going to hit Republicans.

Except every one of the things currently being discussed is “hitting” the Second Amendment. One would be incredibly hard-pressed to find some kind of gun control that doesn’t. Remember, the Second Amendment ends with the phrase, “shall not be infringed.” That’s a pretty definite statement.

Hoover, however, isn’t the only Republican to appear on CNN and also call for gun control. Once upon a time, S.E. Cupp was a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment. That is until she ended up on CNN, then suddenly decided everything she believed about guns was wrong after a mass shooting. Apparently, none of the other mass shootings we’d seen was enough for her, it just took one more to undermine everything she said she believed.

What are they doing to supposed Republicans in the CNN green room?

As for Hoover, she’s wrong on so many levels, but she clearly doesn’t actually pay enough attention to things to realize it. As noted, the poll claiming 90 percent of people want gun control has been discredited, in part because it claimed 97 percent wanted universal background checks, only to see them voted down every time such a measure appears on a ballot.

Hoover apparently doesn’t get that.

Of course, there was no one on the TV panel to call her on any of this. Everyone agreed with her, so even if they knew she had her facts wrong, they weren’t about to correct her. There’s power in making people feel like they’re the minority, after all, so it’s in CNN’s interest to make any pro-gun viewer feel that way.

Not that I suspect they have a lot of pro-gun viewers, mind you, but still…

Either way, Hoover can dream of a Republican party that’s more open to gun control, but GOP candidates know that in most parts of the nation, suggesting that they are is a good way to lose.

As it should be.