On the one year anniversary of the House of Representatives impeaching President Trump, CNN Newsroom host Brianna Keilar and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley reminisced on what would could have been if the Senate had only convicted the Russian "tool."
Early on during Friday's show, Keilar went to commercial with the question, "One year ago, the House impeached President Trump. How would American lives be different now if the Senate convicted him?"
Several minutes later, Keilar welcomed Brinkley "to talk about this and you know, I know this is sort of looking back on what would have been, what could have been." She also argued it was self-evident that Trump was guilty, "we saw in that initial phone call that prompted impeachment, we saw the President's misuse of office. It was an abuse of power."
Keilar then unintentionally displayed the silliness of the her question, "The Senate certainly could not have foreseen what has been his neglect to handle this pandemic, and the ensuing economic crisis, but what do you think the government response would have looked like if Mike Pence had been in charge instead of Donald Trump?"
Brinkley decided not to begin with the pandemic, "Well, it would have been a lot different, Brianna. There's no evidence that Pence is involved with Russia." Naturally, there was no snarky chyron that said there is no evidence that Trump was involved with Russia, either.
After recalling Keilar's interview with Leon Panetta in the previous segment, Brinkley suggested that the recent hack of several government agencies and private companies would not have happened, "If he had been impeached and the Senate got rid of him, it would have been a large message to foreign countries, don't mess with the United States: your tool, in this case Donald Trump is gone, we have a new government."
Keilar and Brinkley would go on to suggest that Mike Pence, as a conventional politician, would have done a better job of taking the virus seriously, uniting the country, and would not have turned masks into a controversial topic.
But that missed the point the cost-benefit analysis debate over economic shutdowns in the name of virus containment were going to come regardless of who the president was. Further, it goes without saying that CNN would have been just as vicious in attacking Pence over any possible coronavirus response, down to placing directly blame on him for the hundreds of thousands of dead Americans.
This segment was sponsored by Humana. Their contact information is linked.
Here is a transcript of the December 18 show:
CNN Newsroom
December 18, 2020
1:12 PM ETBRIANNA KEILAR: And one year ago, the House impeached President Trump. How would American lives be different now if the Senate convicted him?
(....)
1:28 PM ET
KEILAR: It probably seems like a lifetime ago, but it was one year ago today that the House of Representatives voted on and approved two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump for abuse of power, obstruction of Congress and that made him the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by Congress. In early February, following a three week-long trial in the Senate, a divided Senate voted 52-48 to acquit the President. We have CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley with us now to talk about this and you know, I know this is sort of looking back on what would have been, what could have been, but we saw in that initial phone call that prompted impeachment, we saw the President's misuse of office. It was an abuse of power. The Senate certainly could not have foreseen what has been his neglect to handle this pandemic, and the ensuing economic crisis, but what do you think the government response would have looked like if Mike Pence had been in charge instead of Donald Trump?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY: Well, it would have been a lot different, Brianna. There's no evidence that Pence is involved with Russia. And you just had a very sobering interview with Secretary Panetta. This incredible scenario of Donald Trump's refusal to ever criticize, say anything wrong about Putin and the Russian government and willing to encourage interference on our elections, Donald Trump. If he had been impeached and the Senate got rid of him, it would have been a large message to foreign countries, don't mess with the United States: your tool, in this case Donald Trump is gone, we have a new government. And Michael Pence coming from Indiana, the big state of the pharmaceuticals would have been trying to unify the country on the COVID. If we're going to have a war on it, let's do it united in a way that Franklin Roosevelt would or John Kennedy, instead we got Donald Trump's mixed messaging about the response to the --- the coronavirus on a daily basis to the point we all became dizzy in 2020.
KEILAR: I mean, you wonder if Mike Pence or really, I mean, any other more conventional politician might have looked at something like this crisis, as so many politicians have done, and seen where the good of the country intersects with what is good politically, which is to unite and to try to create a united front that would have benefitted a president running for re-election.
BRINKLEY: Early on in 2020 Donald Trump when COVID hit acted like Herbert Hoover, spent two months doing nothing. We could have saved tens of thousands of lives if President Trump had acted sooner. Here we are at the end of the year, 2020, he is acting like Herbert Hoover do nothing now when we are under cyberattack ostensibly from Russia and he seems to be unconcerned about it and meanwhile, just today, Trump is saying he is not sure masks work. You know, we watched Donald Trump hold a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma over the summer where Herbert Cain died --- Herman Cain died. I doubt Mike Pence would have had a maskless rally in such a reckless fashion. So the tone and tenor of the year would have been better and who knows, Pence may have been able to unify the country through COVID and gotten reelected. He could have a President Pence, alas you have Donald Trump, a one-term president with impeachment on him, who lost the country's votes but also has become a laughing stock around the world and we're being toyed with now by Russia because they know Trump won't respond.
KEILAR: Doug, thank you so much for your perspective. We really appreciate it.
