Filling in as host of CNN’s Inside Politics on Wednesday, chief White House correspondent and Trump's sparring partner Jim Acosta did his part for the Day Without a Woman protesters by wondering if it’s symbolized “the makings of a Democratic Party resurgence” and hinting that it would behoove President Trump to remain quiet about this.
Returning from a break, Acosta touted protesters in New York and Washington continuing to do their part in “the movement that we saw really getting going during the inaugural when you saw women and men and children for that matter marching in major cities all over the country to demonstrate against President Trump.”
Acosta noted that other than a tweet about the long-running International Women’s Day from both President Trump and First Daughter Ivanka, the elder Trump has stayed silent.
Instead of leaving it at that, Acosta quipped to The Atlantic’s Molly Ball: “And, you know, this is something, Molly, that I think the President would do well by sitting back and just being an observer to all of this. Just a hunch on my part...Cause much of this is directed at him.”
As part of a pattern throughout the segment, Acosta would make a liberal point or say something about Trump, but only be followed by opposing viewpoints from his four panelists. In this case, Ball first responded:
This is a much more political International Women's Day that we have seen in the past, right? International Women's Day usually, like, is one of these days on the calendar where it’s relatively nonpartisan. Everybody can agree that women are wonderful and but because the wo — this movement — this women’s movement has been so focused on opposition to Trump that is I think has become much more of a politically polarized occasion and for Trump to rise above it is commendable.
One thing organizers of the original January 21 march tried to tell us was that it wasn’t directed at President Trump (even though it clearly was). Since then, it’s stayed true to the underlying mission of helping Democrats.
With that in mind, Acosta speculated (like other media figures have) that this could be as fledgling of a movement as the Tea Party:
The thing that I find interesting in all of this is that and perhaps today is not the best example of this, but those women marches that we saw around the inaugural, and these other demonstrations that have been cropping up, Nia, in recent weeks where it sort of feels like the reverse Tea Party is taking shape around the country. Do you see some of that there, and do you see perhaps the makings of a Democratic Party resurgence in some of these demonstrations?
CNN political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson offered a half-hearted “possibly” before largely disagreeing with Acosta, noting that “there isn't a collective women's voice when it comes to politics” because “[w]hite women vote very differently than black women do, than Latino women do,than Asian women do.”
This all being said, she knocked the Tea Party as being “very much bound together by race” (translation: just whites) “and religion” (translation: Christians) “and, in some ways, class” (translation: the wealthy).
Here are the relevant portions of the transcript from CNN’s Inside Politics on March 8:
CNN’s Inside Politics
March 8, 2017
12:41 p.m. Eastern
JIM ACOSTA: You’re looking at live pictures right now. Marchers gathering and demonstrating in both New York and Washington to mark the International Women's Day. This is part of the movement that we saw really getting going during the inaugural when you saw women and men and children for that matter marching in major cities all over the country to demonstrate against President Trump and we're seeing some of that here today.
(....)
ACOSTA: And, you know, this is something, Molly, that I think the President would do well by sitting back and just being an observer to all of this. Just a hunch on my part. What do you —
MOLLY BALL: Well and so far he has. So — so we should give him some credit for that for not doing one of his signature provocations and causing a whole controversy.
ACOSTA: Yeah. Cause much of this is directed at him. Much of this is a reaction to him and — yeah.
BALL: Of course and so, this is a much more political International Women's Day that we have seen in the past, right? International Women's Day usually, like, is one of these days on the calendar where it’s relatively nonpartisan. Everybody can agree that women are wonderful and but because the wo — this movement — this women’s movement has been so focused on opposition to Trump that is I think has become much more of a politically polarized occasion and for Trump to rise above it is commendable.
ACOSTA: Yeah. The thing that I find interesting in all of this is that and perhaps today is not the best example of this, but those women marches that we saw around the inaugural, and these other demonstrations that have been cropping up, Nia, in recent weeks where it sort of feels like the reverse tea party is taking shape around the country. Do you see some of that there, and do you see perhaps the makings of a Democratic Party resurgence in some of these demonstrations?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: I mean, possibly. You know, you saw Ivanka Trump tweet there about a collective women’s voice, but there isn't a collective women's voice when it comes to politics. White women vote very differently than black women do, than Latino women do, than Asian women do, so I mean, even tensions around some of those marches, there’s, you know, African-American women wondering where they fit in to that. I mean, so it isn’t — you know, you have the Tea Party, which was very much bound together by race and religion and, in some ways, class. But these kinda movements, I think, to think the identity of being a woman is enough to bind together this response and resistance, I think it’s a fallacy.
RON BROWNSTEIN: There are two separate issues. I mean, Donald Trump won white women —
HENDERSON: Yeah, 53 percent.
BROWNSTEIN: — running against the first white women nominee ever. He won white women by nine. That was less than Mitt Romney won them by in ‘12 but more than John McCain won them by ‘08. Arguably, the principle reason he is President is because so many blue collar white women voted for him, especially in the — he won non-college white women by 27 points, so as Nia said, there is not a monolithic women’s vote or voice. But the other part of this, I think, is maybe more relevant to 2018, which is just the sheer amount of energy that you’re seeing not only in this march — maybe not this march, but the marches immediately after the election, the protests around the executive order, some of the town halls on health care. Midterm elections are about motivational energy. Far fewer people vote than in the presidential. Tom Davis, the former NRCC chair, said to me, you know, midterms are about the people that are the angriest and, right now, if you look in polling, the people who strongly disapprove of Donald Trump do significantly outnumber the share that strongly approve of him, and you do have this kinnd of energy at the base the democratic party and beyond it that goes beyond I think what you usually see.
ACOSTA: And, Jennifer, people mock the Tea Party, but in 2010, they took the House. They did lose in 2012. Republicans lost in 2012, but in 2014, they took the Senate. Going to Ron Brownstein's point here, could — is this something that the White House should be, you know, keeping their eye on?
JENNIFER JACOBS: Yeah. Absolutely and I think they do, but if we're wondering how much this march — this Women's Day has an effect on the President of the United States, there's probably one woman who has more affect than anyone else at this moment, and it's probably Ivanka Trump.
(....)
BROWNSTEIN: If you look at the initial reactions to Trump as President extending from Trump as a candidate, I think the divides are going to become even wietder. I mean, those working class white women who are for him, the's no occasion they're moving away, but he is — I think he is performing even more poorly than he did during the campaign with those white collar women who are more socially liberal and certainly with minorities facing a lot of trouble as well.
ACOSTA: And I think that is why the ObamaCare argument is so important and how that plays out. I think those voters are really in play if if President mishandles this.
