It is one thing to claim that President Trump's Friday tweets calling to "liberate" various states were unwise and counterproductive, but according to Carl Bernstein, who joined CNN's Chris Cuomo that night, they were tantamount to inciting insurrection.
Cuomo began by asserting that the tweets fit the legal definition of recklessness:
"The legal definition is that you perceive a risk and then do that risky thing anyway. And it seems to me the exact definition of the president saying to protesters in states that are following his guidelines, by the way, they are federal directives. Yeah, 'you should be angry. You should liberate your states,'" he argued before asking, "What's the play for him in that?"
It is perfectly normal for people to ask when they can go back to work amidst skyrocketing unemployment rates, especially when it appears that the curve is flattening, maybe even bending, but Bernstein had another idea: "The play for that is to his base as well as to cover up his own malfeasance and misfeasance throughout this terrible episode in our history from January to March while he fiddled and Rome literally burned," Bernstein complained.
He then alleged that Trump was inciting insurrection: "The President of the United States at the moment of this nation's utmost vulnerability since World War II preached and incited to the people of this country, insurrection," he fumed. Bernstein then went on to praise governors, including Cuomo's brother Andrew, and further condemned the administration, with: "[W]e don't have the most basic testing apparatus that Singapore, that South Korea was able to save its citizens because it proceeded methodically."
As Singapore is actually preparing for a surge in cases in the city-state, Bernstein got one more shot in at Trump: "We have a president who says 'I'm not a supply clerk.' Can you imagine FDR in World War II saying I'm not a supply clerk? There's something obscene about this."
No, but then again, that's the difference between a literal war and metaphorical one.
Here is a transcript for the April 17 show:
CNN
Cuomo Prime Time
10:08 PM ET
CHRIS CUOMO: So reckless, the legal definition is that you perceive a risk and then do that risky thing anyway. And it seems to me the exact definition of the president saying to protesters in states that are following his guidelines, by the way, they are federal directives. Yeah, “you should be angry. You should liberate your states.” What's the play for him in that?
CARL BERNSTEIN: The play for that is to his base as well as to cover up his own malfeasance and misfeasance throughout this terrible episode in our history from January to March while he fiddled and Rome literally burned. But let's look at what he did and said today. The President of the United States at the moment of this nation's utmost vulnerability since World War II preached and incited to the people of this country, insurrection. It's madness and a degree of recklessness that's really inconceivable and one of the things you're seeing from the governors, particularly they're led by Larry Hogan, a Republican of Maryland. Your brother, Governor of new York, a Democrat. But they are almost united to the person in knowing how reckless this president has been through this ordeal and now we find ourselves in a situation where like looking at nurses in garbage bags in our operating theaters, in our hospitals, in our ICU units, we don't have the most basic testing apparatus that Singapore, that South Korea was able to save its citizens because it proceeded methodically. We have a president who says “I'm not a supply clerk.” Can you imagine FDR in World War II saying I'm not a supply clerk? There's something obscene about this.
