CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley on Friday diagnosed that Donald Trump is simply “mad at not being the boss anymore.” He also lectured the President about how ObamaCare repeal legislation should work. In a condescending tone, Pelley offered, “I think he's mad at not being the boss anymore.... He has to answer to the Congress. He has to answer to the courts and the only thing Donald Trump done in his life is run a private family company.”
During the Obama administrations, most journalists weren’t interested in restricting power of the executive. That, apparently, has changed. Pelley was delighted with the struggles Trump is enduring: “This is what the Founders had in mind when they created the system of checks and balances. They wanted the president, the Congress and courts to be mutually constrained. Donald Trump isn't the boss anymore.”
Pelley snidely added, “He's the apprentice and he doesn't like that.” Later, the CBS anchor lectured Trump on what he doesn’t understand about the legislative process:
Mr. Trump tweeted something this morning that I think just perfectly captures what he has yet to learn about being president. He said the ObamaCare repeal and replace is, quote, "moving fast," end quote. Well, this is the sixth of the American economy. It's $3 trillion. I'm sure it seems like it's moving fast when you haven't shown it to anyone. But when they roll this out, some significant amount of the public is going to say, "Well, that's not what we had in mind. Congress is going to say, "Mr. President, thank you for your suggestion." It won't be moving fast and I think this will continue to dawn on the President as he's moving forward.
Generally, the journalist was a lot softer on Barack Obama. On January 18, 2017, Pelley swooned that Obama “is not going gently into that good night.” On January 19, he recounted the “enduring images of Barack Obama.”
To his credit, Pelley praised Trump for holding a press conference and answering every question asked of him:
He walked out there and took questions from all-comers, and it was like it was never going to end and he called on people like our Major Garrett who he knew were going to ask the most difficult questions. So absolute credit to the President for that.
A transcript of the segment is below:
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CBS This Morning
2/17/17
8:04am ETGAYLE KING: CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley handled yesterday’s special report on President Trump’s news conference. He joins us now bright and early in the morning. Good to see you.
SCOTT PELLEY: Great to be with you as always.
KING: I was watching your coverage. I remember when you interviewed him before he became president, you said something to him like, “You know, Donald Trump, if you're elected, running the country is not going to be like running a company.” And he said, “We'll see.” What is it we are seeing.
PELLEY: Well, you know, I doesn't think he's mad at the media.
KING: You don’t?
PELLEY: I think he's mad at not being the boss anymore. Any president who comes in and he has to answer to the public. He has to answer to the Congress. He has to answer to the courts and the only thing Donald Trump done in his life is run a private, family company. I asked him in that same interview, I said, “Who tells you no?” Stumped him. He could not come up with a name of anybody who tells him no. But now as president, one of the most constrained jobs in the world, all day long people are saying, “Yes, sir, Mr. President, but you can't do that.”
KING: Even the news conference yesterday, Scott. He had it against the advice of his top advisers.
PELLEY: Well, there are some things the president can to and that is call a news conference any time he wants to. We were all scrambling to get on the air because that was a completely unexpected and unannounced thing. But, again, this is what the Founders had in mind when they created this system of checks and balances. They wanted the President, the Congress and courts to be mutually constrained. Donald Trump isn't the boss anymore. He’s the apprentice and he doesn’t like that.
O’DONNELL: He’s already been constrained by the judiciary in terms of his executive order in immigration. He most likely — We haven't seen yet what the legislative branch will do. You have Republicans in control of the legislative branch. What is the onus on Republicans and he's promised a lot of change, but we have yet seen that in terms of congressional action.
PELLEY: Mr. Trump tweeted something this morning that I think just perfectly captures what he has yet to learn about being president. He said the ObamaCare repeal and replace is, quote, “moving fast,” end quote. Well, this is the sixth of the American economy. It's $3 trillion. I'm sure it seems like it's moving fast when you haven't shown it to anyone. But when they roll this out, some significant amount of the public is going to say, “Well, that's not what we had in mind. Congress is going to say, “Mr. President, thank you for your suggestion.” It won't be moving fast and I think this will continue to dawn on the President as he's moving forward.
MASON: Despite the past few weeks, the President insisted yesterday that his administration is a fine tuned machine. Do you think he convinced the American public of that?
PELLEY: Well, I don't think so. The evidence just isn't there and it remights me of a wonderful quote from Harry Truman, talking about his successor, Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower, of course, was the last President we had who had no political experience and Truman said, “Poor Ike. He's going to say, do this and do that and nothing is going to happen. It won't be a bit like the Army.”
KING: And he's the president of the United States, yet he keeps bringing up Hillary Clinton's name.
PELLEY: He was running against her yesterday, wasn't he. Fascinating.
KING: What to you make of that? When will that stop, do you think?
PELLEY: Never. He needs a foil to push against. So Hillary Clinton is that foil in some statements. The media is that foil very, very often. He need as villain to be able to push against to blame these constraints he's feeling on somebody outside of his own inner circle.
O’DONNELL: The President currently has a national security adviser. It's not his permanent one. He wanted Vice Admiral Harward who 40 years served in the Navy, Navy S.E.A.L., who publically turned down the President of the United States, his commander in chief.
PELLEY: A military officer, essentially.
O’DONNELL: Extraordinary.
PELLEY: Yes, quite extraordinary.
KING: Who said — It's being reported to friends he didn't want to be involved. It was like a turd sandwich, except he used the other word. He’s using, saying, publicly, because of family matters and financial matters that he turned it down. But to Norah’s point, it’s extraordinary.
O’DONNELL: But Major Garrett reported that it was because he was not given authority to put his team together.
ANTHONY MASON: His own staff. Yeah.
PELLEY: Well, remember, earlier this week, the general in charge of U.S. special opperations around the world, the Navy S.E.A.L., the Delta force, our top terrorist fighters said, quote, “The government is in tearbling turmoil. I hope they straighten it out soon because we're a nation at war.”
MASON: One of the things that interesting, Scott, part of the Trump campaign was to advertise him as a successful businessman. But I think a lot of businessmen would say it's not very business-like.
PELLEY: You know, Norah was making a point before we were on the air that the Trump organization was not a public company. He never had to answer to a board of directors.
MASON: Yes.
PELLEY: He never had to answer to anyone. So in terms of business, we really don't know how Mr. Trump ran the Trump organization, but we can certainly believe he was not used to having anyone tell him no.
KING: If you had been there yesterday, what would you have asked him?
PELLEY: Wow. Great — I'd have to take -- I have to say the press corps did a wonderful job and I also have to say good for the President. Good for the president.
O’DONNELL: I agree.
PELLEY: He walked out there and took questions from all-comers, and it was like it was never going to end and he called on people like our Major Garrett who he knew were going to ask the most difficult questions. So absolute credit to the President for that.
O’DONNELL: I agree. He called on almost everyone. It was a long press conference.
PELLEY: He nearly wore them out.
KING: Which is what he did during the campaign. He did that during the campaign.
O’DONNELL: Scott Pelley, always great to have you.
