On Monday morning’s New Day, CNN host John Berman brought on CNN White House Correspondent John Harwood to discuss the 2020 election. In the interview, Harwood proclaimed that President Trump was not “connected to reality” and that “it’s not really in serious dispute anymore that President Trump is not up to this job.”
Berman began the segment by playing video of an exchange between CNN host Jake Tapper and Peter Navarro, the Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. In the interview, Navarro defended a joke that Trump made about reducing testing for COVID-19 at his campaign rally on Saturday. Berman responded to Navarro’s comments with self-righteous, pearl clutching:
That was suggesting that the President joking about slowing down testing was somehow meant for laughs. I don't know why they think it's funny when 120,000 people have died here, John.
Harwood used the interview to bash Trump and interject his personal views:
Well look, that’s the distinction John, between President Trump, who lives in his own world, and the people who work for him who have to, to service President Trump and help President Trump, but at least are somewhat connected to reality. You know, the problem that we have here is we now have enough testimony from people like John Bolton and John Kelly and Jim Mattis to go with what we can see with our own eyes to know that it’s not really in serious dispute anymore that President Trump is not up to this job. And one of the reasons that he’s not up to the job is that he has difficulty separating his personal interests from those of other people and the national interest.
Obviously, Harwood is the leading authority on Trump’s mental state, and knows for a fact that Trump is not living in “reality.” Furthermore, using John Bolton as evidence for attacking Trump’s performance as president is preposterous, as Bolton has refused to testify to his claims about Trump under oath.
Lastly, sorry to anyone who thinks that Trump is doing a good job as president. Harwood has decided that “it’s not really in serious dispute anymore that President Trump is not up to this job.” The reporter apparently knows better than voters and his opinion cannot even be debated.
Harwood then faulted Trump for wanting to open the economy:
And one of the reasons that he’s not up to the job is that he has difficulty separating his personal interests from those of other people and the national interest. So coronavirus comes in the beginning. He thinks that I'm running for re-election, it’s going to hurt the stock market, deny that the problem exists.
As if having a strong economy is not good for the American people. No, Trump is selfish for wanting people to go to work and make a living.
Harwood also claimed that Trump was selfish for having his rally on Saturday:
Same thing is true with that rally that he had over the weekend. He personally needed the adulation of people in a crowd to lift his spirits from the funk that he's been in because of the state of the country. The interest of the people who would be crowded into that rally without masks, those were secondary. And the fact that only 6,000 people showed up for that rally is an indication that there are a lot more people than before who are perceiving the reality of the situation and certainly had a very strong vibe of the wheels coming off the wagon.
Because of course, Trump forced those people to attend the rally. They did not go because they support him and are going to vote for him in November.
For those who back Trump, no need to defend him because John Harwood has decided that there is no longer any need for discussion about his job performance and can certify that he is mentally out of touch.
The full June 22 Transcript is below. Click "expand" to read more.
CNN New Day
06/22/20
8:07:10 AM
JOHN BERMAN: I want to bring in CNN White House correspondent, John Harwood, if I can, Sanjay, for a second here. And I want to play the sound from Peter Navarro, who is running, sort of, the supply procurement operation for the White House. And Peter was on, Navarro was on with Jake Tapper, oh we don’t have that sound. Well Peter Navarro, with Jake Tapper yesterday, acknowledged that he is trying to prepare the country with getting the supplies for a second wave in the fall. And that just is a vastly different message than we're getting from Vice President Pence and the others. Alright, let’s play that.
[Cuts to video]
PETER NAVARRO: You know, it was tongue in cheek. Come on now.
JAKE TAPPER: Did the president –
NAVARRO: Come on now, that was tongue-in-cheek, please.
TAPPER: I don’t, I don't know that it was tongue-in-cheek at all.
NAVARRO: I know that it was tongue-in-cheek
TAPPER: He has said similar things for months.
NAVARRO: That, that’s news for you. Tongue-in-cheek. Okay.
TAPPER: He has said similar things for months.
[Cuts to live]
BERMAN: Alright, so that was not the sound bite about procuring more supplies for a second wave. That was suggesting that the President joking about slowing down testing was somehow meant for laughs. I don't know why they think it's funny when 120,000 people have died here, John. So clearly there's a mixed message here. On the one hand, the White House publicly trying to diminish, I think, the severity of it. On the other hand, people who are involved in preparing are clearly preparing for something here.
JOHN HARWOOD (CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT): Well look, that’s the distinction John, between President Trump, who lives in his own world, and the people who work for him who have to, to service President Trump and help President Trump, but at least are somewhat connected to reality. You know, the problem that we have here is we now have enough testimony from people like John Bolton and John Kelly and Jim Mattis to go with what we can see with our own eyes to know that it’s not really in serious dispute anymore that President Trump is not up to this job. And one of the reasons that he’s not up to the job is that he has difficulty separating his personal interests from those of other people and the national interest. So coronavirus comes in the beginning. He thinks that I'm running for re-election, it’s going to hurt the stock market, deny that the problem exists. Now that the economy has reopened again, you've got a nation convulsed by racial unrest and coronavirus is coming
back. He feels a strong urge to deny that it exists. And so he makes these remarks about testing. He's made them, as Jake was mentioning in that clip, consistently said, if we don't test, we won't have as many cases. Same thing is true with that rally that he had over the weekend. He personally needed the adulation of people in a crowd to lift his spirits from the funk that he's been in because of the state of the country. The interest of the people who would be crowded into that rally without masks, those were secondary. And the fact that only 6,000 people showed up for that rally is an indication that there are a lot more people than before who are perceiving the reality of the situation and certainly had a very strong vibe of the wheels coming off the wagon.
