Amidst the media’s raging meltdowns on Tuesday over the possibility President Trump will trigger a nuclear holocaust with North Korea, liberal CNN analysts Jeffrey Toobin and James Clapper implored the media writ large to “dial this all back a little bit” with the “quite incendiary” rhetoric.
Our friends at Mediaite uncovered the gem of Toobin’s comments during Erin Burnett OutFront amidst the hysteria that included a live report on what Hawaii would do in the event of a North Korea nuclear attack.
“Can we just dial this all back a little bit? You know, I think this is an important story, but it is an unconfirmed report of a possible technological development from North Korea. And suddenly, on television, we’re talking about people hiding in caves on Hawaii,” Toobin declared.
Toobin reminded colleagues that the North Korean regime’s instability has been a problem “for a long time” so, therefore, “[t]he idea that we are now in some unprecedented new territory, it does not serve anybody's interests to talk about this as if nuclear war were imminent.”
Burnett seemed flustered by this and asked if that meant the media should ignore Trump, to which Toobin responded that we shouldn’t, but at least quote him correctly:
I mean, you know, we're so used to editing what he said. What he actually said is if there's going to be more threats, not an attack, but more threats from North Korea, we're going to see, in effect, a nuclear war. Because he said, like — like the world has never seen.
Toobin doubled down a few moments later, stating that the media should not be “creat[ing] some sort of panic that we are on the brink of a nuclear war, because, you know, it’s just one person’s opinion. I don’t think we’re on the brink of a nuclear war and I don’t think anybody needs to do anything in Hawaii, except take a great, enjoyable, long vacation.”
Former Defense Intelligence Agency head James Clapper channeled similar sentiments the next hour on Anderson Cooper 360. He first fretted that he was pleased to be on the show, but paraphrased “Elizabeth Taylor's eighth husband, when he said I know what I'm supposed to do but how do I make it different after listening to all the commentary about this all day long.”
The man who lied about NSA spying offered plenty of criticism for Trump, but he also called out the media:
So I'm of a mind to — I'm sort of in the Secretary of State Tillerson camp of more moderate rhetoric and I would also appeal to those in the media to tone down the rhetoric, as well because the rhetoric itself now is becoming quite incendiary. And I don't think it's very productive to engage in this dueling banjo rhetoric back and forth, which is quite provocative.
Not to be left out, Fox News Channel guest and former Obama official Patrick Granfield told Tucker Carlson Tonight fill-in host Laura Ingraham that “it is helpful to dial down some of the rhetoric and also take a couple of steps back.”
“I think we have to give credit where credit is due, to the Trump administration, to Nikki Haley, to Secretary Tillerson for the sanction package that was passed this past weekend,” Granfield added.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront and CNN’s AC360 on August 8:
CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
August 8, 2017
7:38 p.m. Eastern
JEFFREY TOOBIN: Can we just dial this all back a little bit? You know, I think this is an important story, but it is an unconfirmed report of a possible technological development from North Korea. And suddenly, on television, we’re talking about people hiding in caves on Hawaii. You know, I think, you know, North Korea has had unstable leadership for a long time. They've been developing nuclear weapons for a long time. The idea that we are now in some unprecedented new territory, it does not serve anybody's interests to talk about this as if nuclear war were imminent. I mean, it just seems crazy to me that we’re talking about this —
ERIN BURNETT: So what do we do? Do we ignore the words of the President of the United States?
TOOBIN: No. I mean, I think the President — I think the words of the President of United States are — are are not — not helping the situation. I mean, you know, we're so used to editing what he said. What he actually said is if there's going to be more threats, not an attack, but more threats from North Korea, we're going to see, in effect, a nuclear war. Because he said, like — like the world has never seen.
BURNETT: Right. In which — in which case, Jeffrey, to your point, that — that truly is a game changer. I mean, I think that's what John McCain is pointing out. You're setting a red line there that you know North Korea is going to cross. Threats is what they trade in.
TOOBIN: That’s right. That’s how they talk. That’s the lingua franca of the North Korean government. But I think everybody should dial this all back a little bit and not create some sort of panic that we are on the brink of a nuclear war, because, you know, it’s just one person’s opinion. I don’t think we’re on the brink of a nuclear war. and I don’t think anybody needs to do anything in Hawaii, except take a great, enjoyable, long vacation.
(....)
CNN’s AC360
August 8, 2017
8:08 p.m. Eastern
JAMES CLAPPER: Although I am reminded of the....line ascribed to Elizabeth Taylor's eighth husband, when he said I know what I'm supposed to do but how do I make it different after listening to all the commentary about this all day long? To be serious, the rhetoric itself is quite serious. And what is bothersome to me is, for year — for decades, we've heard this kind of rhetoric coming out of North Korea and typically, we ignore it and certainly at a presidential level we ignore it. So the rhetoric itself is not helpful and I am in agreement with Senator Feinstein's comments about the way ahead here is diplomacy. Certainly, the North Koreans are going to convey the image of a capability which we cannot confirm they have. DIA — my old agency came out with an assessment ascribing the capability to miniaturize a weapon in a warhead. Well, we've actually anticipated that for years and it's only logical that as they aggressively pursued their missile technology, so would they a weapon to go with it. But in truth, neither they or we know that these weapons will actually work. So I'm of a mind to — I'm sort of in the Secretary of State Tillerson camp of more moderate rhetoric and I would also appeal to those in the media to tone down the rhetoric, as well because the rhetoric itself now is becoming quite incendiary. And I don't think it's very productive to engage in this dueling banjo rhetoric back and forth, which is quite provocative.
