File this one as yet another instance in which the liberal media took President Trump’s bait, hook, line, and sinker, launching into apocalyptic meltdowns and illustrating for the American public how, for those on the right not in The Resistance, they’re the opposition party.
On Thursday afternoon, CNN suffered a network-wide meltdown over Trump’s letter canceling Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s overseas trip less than an hour before take-off, calling the President a “childish” and “cranky” schoolboy who’s only concerned about “pure politics.”
Surprising no one, carnival barker and chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta led the way, telling activist and pro-Pelosi host Brooke Baldwin that “our nation's capital has official become a playground” because “[t]he President has responded in sort of a childish way is the only way to describe it to the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to her letter essentially saying that the State of the Union will be postponed.”
Acosta added in a jab to Press Secretary Sarah Sanders that she tweeted the letter out “in lieu of having actual briefings.”
He went on to read excerpts from the letter and noted that it doesn’t include a response to Pelosi’s attempt to stop the State of the Union address to what she claimed were lapses in security due to the government shutdown.
Acosta continued (click “expand”):
I talked to one Trump adviser earlier today who said that some of the betting is and these are folks who egg on the President to some extent, but some of the betting is that Nancy Pelosi will fold in all of this and allow the President to deliver the State of the Union speech and this adviser described the Trump/Pelosi battle right now as King Kong versus Godzilla and we'll allow the viewers at home to decide which one is King Kong and which one is Godzilla. But this letter is not really a — I mean, it's just a — to offer an observation, not really a serious response to what the House Speaker said yesterday which is you can't have the State of the Union speech at the Capitol on January 29th.
Going later to chief political analyst Gloria Borger, Baldwin hailed Acosta’s rhetoric: “I'm still kinda back on Jim Acosta referring to Washington as a playground. The only phrase that comes to mind is nanny-nanny-boo-boo.”
Borger agreed, equating it to Trump telling Pelosi to “get out of the sandbox” and stating that, for her, “[t]he wording in this is incredible to me because it is this kind of dumb tit for tat thing.”
She also expressed anger with Trump calling Pelosi’s trip “an excursion” because “[t]his is not an excursion to the beach” but instead “a war zone.”
Like good liberal activists, Baldwin and Borger went on (click “expand”):
BORGER: You don't announce these things, so this — this seems silly to me, honestly and the real world out there looking at this will go, come on, kids. Time for a nap. You’re getting cranky.
BALDWIN: I've got a — I’ve got a — I’ve got a Coast Guard wife on stand by and I cannot wait to when we eventually talk to her.
BORGER: Yeah.
BALDWIN: Because I want to get her response to all of this. Her husband's working the coast guard for 16 years and they've got two kids and this is what we're talking about. Let me just stay with you, Gloria, so it's this tit for tat. It's this back and forth obviously between these two but for everyone else watching, everyone's like make it stop.
BORGER: Yeah.
BALDWIN: Make it stop!
BORGER: Yes. Reopen the government, figure out a way to deal with the immigration issue and, you know, the problem is you have both sides that are boxed in. The President boxed in, of course, first, because he is insistent upon this wall and he's not going to give on it and the Democrats are saying we're not going to give you the wall. They believe they've already given him money for the wall. He turned down another offer in which they had given him more money for the wall and so you do have two sides here that are boxed in and people are suffering and it seems ridiculous that in the middle of all of this, the President is responding to Pelosi essentially saying, you know, I'm not going to let you take your trip to Afghanistan, which is I'm sure is a pleasure trip, an excursion. Come on.
Going back to Borger after speaking to CNN diplomatic and miliary analyst/former Obama official John Kirby, Baldwin attacked Trump and not Pelosi for engaging in “pure politics” with this shutdown.
Again, Borger agreed and then only attempted to present balance by not stating Pelosi “playing politics” as a fact, but rather in the former of a question. Go figure.
“We'll have to see what she says, but while they volley back and forth in the meantime, people like the one you're about to interview, people are struggling and this looks bad for everyone,” she concluded.
To see the relevant transcript from January 17's CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin, click “expand.”
CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin
January 17, 2019
2:16 p.m. EasternBROOKE BALDWIN: Day 27 of this government shutdown and as we've been watching both sides back and forth now, an unusual move from President Trump to Nancy Pelosi. Our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is standing by with that development. Jim, what is President Trump saying?
JIM ACOSTA: Well, our nation's capital has official become a playground, Brooke. The President has responded in sort of a childish way is the only way to describe it to the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to her letter essentially saying that the State of the Union will be postponed or she asked that it be submitted in writing if the government is still shutdown. This is the letter right here from the President. The Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, I guess in lieu of having actual briefings here, just tweeted it out. It says: “Madam Speaker, due to the Shutdown, I'm sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule the seven day excursion when the shutdown is over in light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay. I'm sure you would agree postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.” It goes on to talk about how the President is going to continue to defend the nation's borders and he's calling upon the speaker to join his “strong border security movement” as he's calling it to end the shutdown. But what this letter does not include, Brooke, is any kind of response from the President to what he's actually going to do about the Sate of the Union coming up on January 29th. We've been talking to our sources throughout the last 24 hours or so and what we understand is that they're looking at a variety of options inside the White House. I talked to a White House official late last night who said, look, the President is going to show up at the Capitol on January 29th to deliver the State of the Union speech and I talked to one Trump adviser earlier today who said that some of the betting is and these are folks who egg on the President to some extent, but some of the betting is that Nancy Pelosi will fold in all of this and allow the President to deliver the State of the Union speech and this adviser described the Trump/Pelosi battle right now as King Kong versus Godzilla and we'll allow the viewers at home to decide which one is King Kong and which one is Godzilla. But this letter is not really a — I mean, it's just a — to offer an observation, not really a serious response to what the House Speaker said yesterday which is you can't have the State of the Union speech at the Capitol on January 29th.
BALDWIN: So, hang on a second as I’m — alright. So this is the President's volley now back to Speaker Pelosi. Does the President have the authority, Jim, to cancel these trips to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan? Not only is she a member of Congress, she's the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, can he do that?
ACOSTA: Well, the letter goes onto say: “Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative.” I suppose the President is saying if the House Speaker would like to fly commercial on a commercial carrier, she can do that but what the President is saying is that he's not going to allow government employees to be apart of any kind of excursion that the House Speaker would be on overseas, whether that be flying or protecting her and so on. So, yes, this is sort of a back and forth that seems to be going on between the President and the House Speaker, but interestingly and up until this point, we haven't seen it, no response from the White House to the House Speaker saying yesterday you can't give a State of the Union speech on January 29th. This letter right here saying that he can cancel her upcoming travel plans is about the closest thing we've come to an official response from the White House to the House Speaker and her letter about the upcoming State of the Union speech, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Okay.
ACOSTA: The mystery continues, what can I tell you.
BALDWIN: Yeah, it does. Dot dot dot. Jim Acosta, thank you.
(....)
2:25 p.m. Eastern
BALDWIN: I'm still kinda back on Jim Acosta referring to Washington as a playground. The only phrase that comes to mind is nanny nanny boo-boo.
GLORIA BORGER: Right. Sandbox. Get out of the sandbox. The wording in this is incredible to me because it is this kind of dumb tit for tat thing, but he calls — first of all, I'm not sure he can postpone her trip, but let's just leave that aside.
BALDWIN: Yeah.
BORGER: “In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I'm sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is appropriate.” Now, this is a President who went to Iraq not too long ago. I don't know whether he would call that a public relations event but most of the members of Congress — in fact, all of the members of Congress that I know who go to places like Afghanistan, A, it's not announced publicly, B, sometimes we never find out about it. They can talk about it when they get back, but they go to places like Afghanistan because they want on-the-ground information about what is exactly going on there. You learn things on these congressional delegations and it is important that members of Congress see what they are voting on very often.
BALDWIN: Of course.
BORGER: So this is not — and then he called it — he called it an excursion, okay?
BALDWIN: To a war zone.
BORGER: To a war zone, right? This is not an excursion to the beach, okay? This is a congressional delegation, I presume, to a war zone and other places along the way, but — but he was making — the President seemed to be making light of any kind of trip that she would take to a place like Afghanistan, which is an important place for the Speaker of the House to visit. Now, I don't know what the timing of her trip was supposed to be because we're not told the timing when members of congress go to war zones, go to places like Afghanistan, just like when the President went to Iraq. We were not told in advance about his trip to Iraq. You don't announce these things, so this — this seems silly to me, honestly and the real world out there looking at this will go, come on, kids. Time for a nap. You’re getting cranky.
BALDWIN: I've got a — I’ve got a — I’ve got a Coast Guard wife on stand by and I cannot wait to when we eventually talk to her.
BORGER: Yeah.
BALDWIN: Because I want to get her response to all of this. Her husband's working the coast guard for 16 years and they've got two kids and this is what we're talking about. Let me just stay with you, Gloria, so it's this tit for tat. It's this back and forth obviously between these two but for everyone else watching, everyone's like make it stop.
BORGER: Yeah.
BALDWIN: Make it stop!
BORGER: Yes. Reopen the government, figure out a way to deal with the immigration issue and, you know, the problem is you have both sides that are boxed in. The President boxed in, of course, first, because he is insistent upon this wall and he's not going to give on it and the Democrats are saying we're not going to give you the wall. They believe they've already given him money for the wall. He turned down another offer in which they had given him more money for the wall and so you do have two sides here that are boxed in and people are suffering and it seems ridiculous that in the middle of all of this, the President is responding to Pelosi essentially saying, you know, I'm not going to let you take your trip to Afghanistan, which is I'm sure is a pleasure trip, an excursion. Come on.
BALDWIN: Right, right.
BORGER: I mean, not the way to do it.
BALDWIN: My ties and all the things. Not at all.
(....)
2:34 p.m. Eastern
BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, I've still got you and, you know, this to me just exemplifies, we’ve been reporting in the last 24 hours that both sides are digging in, you know, the President saying this isn't going to end any time soon. Obviously he's so worried that he doesn't get his money for his wall, I have to imagine he's thinking, pure politics.
BORGER: Well, this is pure politics and my producer Brian Roches is reminding me that the President went to Iraq early on in the shutdown, himself. You know, a handful of days into the shutdown, so it's rich that he's telling Nancy Pelosi that she can't and for all we know, by the way, she may be deciding or have decided that she wasn't going to go because we're in the middle of a shutdown here and that she needed to be back in Washington to negotiate. I mean, we just — we have no idea because this is nothing that Pelosi would talk about publicly, but to get back to your question, this is politics and was Nancy Pelosi — let me just be fair here, was Nancy Pelosi playing politics when she said to the President, sorry, you're not allowed to come up to the Hill to do the State of the Union because we're in a shutdown —
BALDWIN: Trolling Trump a little bit.
BORGER: — and we don't have the Secret Service? Yeah, she's stirring the pot there and she knew exactly what she was doing and the White House was really quiet about it, which surprised everyone and now they've, you know — now they've just sent this — this letter to her, this rocket to her and so the ball's in her court. We'll have to see what she says, but while they volley back and forth in the meantime, people like the one you're about to interview, people are struggling and this looks bad for everyone.
