On Sunday afternoon, CNN was absurdly pushing President Joe Biden as a "centrist," but this time, according to CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, Democrat Biden is a "centrist." Here's the absurd quote: "If Republicans can't do business with Joe Biden -- I mean, he's a centrist, maybe center-left Republican who has made his mark in Washington for decades on reaching across the aisle."
Brinkley also declared that he hopes that the seven Republican Senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump may foreshadow as many as a dozen Republicans working with President Biden.
While discussing the impeachment trial result in which seven Republicans joined with all 50 Democrats to support conviction, CNN Newsroom weekend anchor Fredricka Whitfield asked her guest what "influence" he thought these Republicans would have. After declaring that he hopes the seven would help form a compromise on an economic relief plan for the pandemic, he then added:
Let's hope that group of seven might become a group of 12 who could work with Democrats and start getting things done so we're not living in dysfunction junction in the United States. Congress and the Senate have just woefully shrunk in the last, you know, really, since 2000 in their importance in the United States. We have so much executive power, and it's time that Congress starts trying to work with the White House and get things done, particularly in the midst of a pandemic like this.
After Whitfield followed up by asking if the impeachment would have a lasting effect on the institution of the presidency, he responded:
I worry sometimes that we're doing impeachment one after the other, that it's the new norm. But I don't worry too much because I think Donald Trump is so weird, such an aberration, so shameless, lied so many times that we're not going to keep trying to impeach Presidents.
Then, in spite of the fact that President Biden has gone pretty far to the left on issues like adopting the Paris Accord, halting deportations of illegal immigrants, and allowing 25,000 asylum seekers to come into the U.S. even though Mexico had been willing to let them remain there, Brinkley then pushed the liberal President as a "centrist" as he added:
I think Biden -- if Republicans can't do business with Joe Biden -- I mean, he's a centrist, maybe center-left Republican who has made his mark in Washington for decades on reaching across the aisle. He's trying desperately to work with the Republican party. They need to meet him -- get things done in 2021. If we want to go back to the neo-civil war between R's and D's, do it in the election cycle of 2022. But there's no reason to have utter gridlock right now in Washington.
This episode of CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield was sponsored in part by Freshly.com. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows. Click "expand" to read more.
CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield
February 14, 2021
2:13 p.m. Eastern
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: And so do you see that there might be some greater influence in the days or weeks or perhaps months to come from perhaps those seven Republicans who did stand up -- who did convict the President?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I think it is important, because seven isn't three. And Mitch McConnell has a foot in two camps -- the Romney Republicans, if you'd like, and the Trump Republicans. The question is, can they do business with Joe Biden? I think President Biden has had a remarkable few weeks here. He was smart to lay low during the impeachment trial. There's still this hope of a compromise deal on a coronavirus relief package. We desperately need it -- the country needs it.
Let's hope that group of seven might become a group of 12 who could work with Democrats and start getting things done so we're not living in dysfunction junction in the United States. Congress and the Senate have just woefully shrunk in the last, you know, really, since 2000 in their importance in the United States. We have so much executive power, and it's time that Congress starts trying to work with the White House and get things done, particularly in the midst of a pandemic like this.
WHITFIELD: Then overall what do you see the impact that this impeachment trial may have had on the office of the presidency?
BRINKLEY: I worry sometimes that we're doing impeachment one after the other, that it's the new norm. But I don't worry too much because I think Donald Trump is so weird, such an aberration, so shameless, lied so many times that we're not going to keep trying to impeach Presidents.
I think Biden -- if Republicans can't do business with Joe Biden -- I mean, he's a centrist, maybe center-left Republican who has made his mark in Washington for decades on reaching across the aisle. He's trying desperately to work with the Republican party. They need to meet him -- get things done in 2021. If we want to go back to the neo-civil war between R's and D's, do it in the election cycle of 2022. But there's no reason to have utter gridlock right now in Washington.
