On Monday’s Wolf, Sentinel Newspapers executive editor and CNN political analyst Brian Karem declared in the wake of President Trump’s Twitter spat with Republican Senator Bob Corker (Tenn.) that the President’s support has dwindled to the point that he’s “embrace[d] a base that includes David Duke and white supremacists and the Nazi party.”
Karem’s latest anti-Trump tirade unfurled following chief political analyst Gloria Borger’s thoughts that Corker’s comments slamming Trump were “very significant.” Borger added that this was despite the fact that he’s not seeking reelection while his colleagues will remain in the Senate.
Without any prompting, Karem unloaded:
Well, I think it also depends on how weak they see the President. They may well be emboldened if they see his support continue to slip away and as the support has slipped slightly, you’ve seen his rhetoric, you know, go farther and farther to the extreme to embrace a base that includes David Duke and white supremacists and the Nazi party.
Blitzer surprisingly stepped in to slightly push back, stating that Trump’s “not embracing them” and those people are only “a small group.”
Nevertheless, Karem doubled down: “They’re — that's the group. He’s not embracing them, but that's what's left in that group. There are a lot of people in the group that belong to those particular.”
A source of Jim Acosta-like outbursts at White House press briefings, Karem observed, in part, that “everything that the President does, those tweets, are all about first of all, he's going to defend what he’s going to — and he’s going deny and then he's going to deflect and then he’s going to disrupt or divide.”
Moments later, Karem added that, on tax reform and other issues, Republicans have “had a problem constructing their message” because, you know “their message has one that's been very divisive.” So objective! And this is someone who’s hired to be a CNN political analyst, not a CNN political commentator.
Karem’s declaration that Trump’s base has been eroded to Nazis and other scum was paid for by CNN advertisers AARP, Glucerna, and Match.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s Wolf on October 9:
CNN’s Wolf
October 9, 2017
1:05 p.m. EasternWOLF BLITZER: How significant are Corker's remarks?
GLORIA BORGER: They’re very significant. This is somebody who supported the President during the campaign. He you know, didn't hug him, didn't give him a bear hug, but he told senators to kind of calm down about Donald Trump and he is somebody who is, of course, important on lots of issues, including foreign policy as chairman of that committee, tax reform, as Sarah was just saying. I don't expect senators to line up and say we're with Corker versus we're with Trump, but I think that what you have now is senators who if they see that Trump continues to take on Corker, are going to be a little afraid of it depending on where they come from because in their states, and they are running for re-election, many of them, they can't afford to take on the President the way Corker did, who was unbound of course because he doesn't have a race coming up now.
BRIAN KAREM: Well, I think it also depends on how weak they see the President. They may well be emboldened if they see his support continue to slip away and as the support has slipped slightly, you’ve seen his rhetoric, you know, go farther and farther to the extreme to embrace a base that includes David Duke and white supremacists and the Nazi party.
BLITZER: Well, he’s not embracing.
KAREM: No, no, no. They’re — that's the group. He’s not embracing them, but that's what's left in that group. There are a lot of people in the group that belong to those particular.
BLITZER: Yeah, but that's just a small group.
KAREM: But I think you're finding it's everything that the President does, those tweets, are all about first of all, he's going to defend what he’s going to — and he’s going deny and then he's going to deflect and then he’s going to disrupt or divide and that's part of, part and parcel, what all those tweets do and Corker coming at them just shows that there are people who are beginning to — what everybody said privately for the last six or seventh months is now being said publicly, leaving those people who are of sound mind and sound body, who have been for the President, slowly walking away from him.
(....)
KAREM: It depends on how deep that support is and it depends on tax — if they can get all of their eggs right now are in the basket of tax reform right now. They've — they’ve lost many of the things they, the initiatives they started, so right now, the Republicans are trying to pass tax reform and so, I think that the support for the President, while broad, is shallow. I think they've had a problem constructing their message. I believe that their message has one that's been very divisive and if they can hold it together and pass tax reforms, yes, I think you'll see more GOP members supporting him. But, if not, I think it all falls apart.
