Having long since lost any semblance of sanity as a real journalist, CNN’s AC360 host and pundit Anderson Cooper began Tuesday’s show with a predictably sophomoric commentary masquerading as journalism with the chyron labeling it a “Keeping Them Honest” segment.
This time, Cooper employed his usual condescension, feigning of outrage, pauses, sighs, and slight tilts of the head to attack “artificially tan man” President Trump as someone who should be removed from his job. Worse yet, Cooper insisted Trump possessed no concern for the 136,000-plus dead Americans from the coronavirus.
Cooper based his latest partisan hackery on Trump’s Rose Garden remarks, which were one of many things the liberal media spent Tuesdays melting down over. Listing a few of the topics the President covered, Cooper boasted that Trump didn’t have an adoring crowd “who’d come to jeer and cheer and bask in the glow of this artificially tan man.”
Adding that “[h]is meandering screed was not close to anything one would expect or accept of a president but that shouldn't surprise us,” Cooper lectured Americans as if those that chose him were too stupid to understand what they had done. And, in an adolescent aside, he expressing annoyance with the way Trump breathes:
That [speech near the Oval Office] too should not surprise us either. That’s how numb we are. We listened to this man muse and meander, rant and regurgitate the same tired tropes and untruthful claims. We watch him boast and brag and preen do that odd thing with his nose when he sucks in air very loudly and none of it surprises us. That's how far we have fallen.
Reiterating the death toll, Cooper ruled that Trump was “misleading” in predicting the death tolls could have been higher were it not for actions by his administration.
Then came the despicable line in which he argued Trump doesn’t care about any of the dead: “The graves are still fresh but this President ignores them. He spreads more falsehoods and standing apart from so many others, opponents, and supporters alike, including within his own circle who are now beginning to face reality.”
Civility! Decency! Morals! Those are all things CNN claim to possess, but in reality, they’re more like The Bulwark or Lincoln Project in their hypocrisy.
After more pauses and sighs about the pandemic continuing to have a “crushing” effect on life and kneeling before Communist China in trusting their death tolls, Cooper brought on fellow TDS sufferer and chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
Hours after he said Trump “soiled” the Rose Garden, Acosta had more to say (click “expand”):
COOPER: Is there anyone around the President who, you know, shakes their head when they hear rambling in the Rose Garden like this?
ACOSTA: No, Anderson we are down to kool-aid drinkers and next of kin here at the Trump White House. There are no more adults that will level with the President and tell him he can't deliver a rally-like rant in the Rose Garden as he did earlier this evening. The reason why that — that — that event took place in the Rose Garden was like a rally is because the way he just went into the lies, the myths and the truth-stretching that he does out on the campaign trail. You know, one of the reasons why the rallies aren’t covered as much more is because the President can't be relied upon to tell the truth at those kinds of events and what he essentially did in the White House Rose Garden is transform one of the last places any presidential administration is supposed to be sort of removed from politics and plunged it head first into a cesspool of — of — of just campaign politicking....[T]here isn't anyone to reign him in and make sure he doesn't do that in the Rose Garden this evening, and what I think we’re left with for the rest of this campaign and the President using the Rose Garden like a rally space, what we saw tonight was a bait and switch. They told us it was going to be a press conference.
Amazingly, Cooper one-upped Acosta with another Biden campaign or audition tape by arguing Trump would be “relieved of duty” if this were the war that Trump has claimed we’re waging against the virus (click “expand”):
COOPER: The idea that in the midst of an attack on America, a president of the United States would, you know, not just continue to make the lies he does constantly but spend an hour in the Rose Garden with this rambling, you know, rift on all his greatest, you know gripes and — and — and grievances. He would be relieved of duty if he was a commander in chief. I mean, it was really extraordinary. If we're under attack, this is what the president of the United States is doing and you know if he spend an hour doing it in front of reporters today, it's what he does all day long to the — to the — you know, as you said, the kool-aid drinkers and the next of kin who are the only people who can stand to be around him any longer.
(....)
COOPER: Well, there’s no policy. He has no — there is no plan.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
COOPER: There is no plan. There is no plan for opening schools. There is no plan.
ACOSTA: And most especially — exactly. Most especially schools.
COOPER: — for improving testing. There is no plan for the PPE, which we're still freaking talking about PPE four months into this thing. It's just stunning. I’ve got to —
ACOSTA: And you have to wonder — yeah. You have to wonder why he thinks the American people want to put children back in schools when he's been wrong so many different occasions since the beginning of all this, Anderson.
These petty snipes and arguments by news anchors for Trump to be removed were made possible by advertisers such as (but not limited to): Bayer, Home Advisor, Loan Depot, TD Ameritrade, and WayFair. Their contact information can be found in the links.
To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s AC360 on July 14, click “expand.”
CNN’s AC360
July 14, 2020
8:00 p.m. EasternANDERSON COOPER: With more than 136,000 dead in this country due to the coronavirus pandemic, the President of the United States today stepped into the Rose Garden and tried to turn into a political rally he can no longer do because of the pandemic. For the better part of an hour, he railed against China, the Democrats and Joe Biden. He lashed out at the World Health Organization, the Paris climate accords, energy-saving air conditions, statute vandals and on and on the President at times seemed like he was reading a list or litany. At other moments, he just seemed to free associate. He talked about all the bombers under his command and said, “hope we don't have to use them” and boasted of things he did three years ago with the wall, undocumented immigrants, all the old applause lines but there was no applause, only silence. Because this wasn't some stadium packed full after supporters who’d come to jeer and cheer and bask in the glow of this artificially tan man. His meandering screed was not close to anything one would expect or accept of a president but that shouldn't surprise us, that he chose to do it in the Rose Garden steps from the oval office. That too should not surprise us either. That’s how numb we are. We listened to this man muse and meander, rant and regurgitate the same tired tropes and untruthful claims. We watch him boast and brag and preen do that odd thing with his nose when he sucks in air very loudly and none of it surprises us. That's how far we have fallen. More than 136,000 of our brothers and sisters, our moms and dads, grandparents and friends are dead. The President did briefly mention them but only to boast about how many more people would have died had it not been for his actions. He calls it leadership but to call it that would be misleading. The largest single peacetime loss of life in this country since the 1918 influenza pandemic and no end in sight and today, the President was taking another victory lap, yet again. The graves are still fresh but this President ignores them. He spreads more falsehoods and standing apart from so many others, opponents, and supporters alike, including within his own circle who are now beginning to face reality. So before we play you some of what he had to say from the biological bunker where he lives where everyone is tested and wears masks to protect him, here’s some quick dispatches from the real world that you should hear.
CDC DIRECTOR DR. ROBERT REDFIELD: I think the fall and winter of 2020 and 2021 are probably going to be one of the most hard times we experienced. Keeping the health care system from being over stretched, I think, is really going to be important and the degree that we’re going to be able to do that, I think, will define how well we get through the fall and winter.
COOPER: That was CDC director Robert Redfield today. Task force member Anthony Fauci going even further, saying it could get as bad as the 1918 pandemic. Tate Reeves, the governor of Mississippi and staunch supporter of the President, making a full-throated plea for mask wearing and Republicans holding their convention in Florida outdoors, all signs that regardless of where people stand on the political spectrum, they are facing up to the facts or at least beginning to. And the facts with few exceptions, they continue to be crushing. Texas reporting a record high 10,745 new cases. Florida reporting their highest death toll so far. Cases now rising in 37 states. The President today brushed it off as flames to be put out other than lives being extinguished and then got straight to the boasting and the falsehoods.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We saved tens of thousands of lives, millions of lives by closing. By closing — by closing we saved millions, potentially millions of lives, could be a number that we're actually working on but it could be three million lives. [SCREEN WIPE] And frankly, if we didn't test it wouldn't be in the headlines because we're showing cases. We have just about the lowest mortality rate. But if we did — think of this, if we didn't do testing — instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing, we'd have half the cases. If we did another, you cut that in half, we'd have, yet again. [SCREEN WIPE] The cases are created because of the fact that we do tremendous testing. We have the best testing in the world.
COOPER: I mean, this is just ludicrous. This is the President of the United States. We have more than 130,000 people dead in this country and he's continues [sic] this ridiculous lie, it's nonsensical. It’s — it — defies any belief, although we shouldn't be surprised because this is what he does. This is one President's favorite lies. It’s on heavy rotation these days. The United States is not the best or close to it in deaths. It's the seventh worst in the world and testing doesn't cause cases. It discovers them and, by the way, according to Dr. Redfield and others, cases we know about probably are far underestimating the actual spread of this virus. Case — testing helps stop the spread. The President also spoke to CBS News tonight, He said that testing is working “too well.” He’s probably the only person who thinks that. He equated the Confederate battle flag with people protesting the disproportionate killing of African Americans by police. I'll have more on that shortly as well but first, more on the rally in the Rose Garden from CNN’s Jim Acosta. I mean, Jim, I think — I know the answer of this, but I mean, it seems like there is no one around the president, I mean — Mark Meadows, you know, the chief of staff, you know, is new. He came in, I guess, some people thought maybe there would be some sort of a change right now. It seems like his job is really, like, routing out leakers right now, which seems to be kind of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Is there anyone around the President who, you know, shakes their head when they hear rambling in the Rose Garden like this?
JIM ACOSTA: No, Anderson we are down to kool-aid drinkers and next of kin here at the Trump White House. There are no more adults that will level with the President and tell him he can't deliver a rally-like rant in the Rose Garden as he did earlier this evening. The reason why that — that — that event took place in the Rose Garden was like a rally is because the way he just went into the lies, the myths and the truth-stretching that he does out on the campaign trail. You know, one of the reasons why the rallies aren’t covered as much more is because the President can't be relied upon to tell the truth at those kinds of events and what he essentially did in the White House Rose Garden is transform one of the last places any presidential administration is supposed to be sort of removed from politics and plunged it head first into a cesspool of — of — of just campaign politicking and you know, we heard him check the boxes that you would hear checked at a rally. He went off on Hunter Biden. He went off on immigration. At one point he was making these magical claims that the wall was going to be finished by the end of the year or almost completed by the end of the year. That is not true. Anderson, as you just illustrated a few minutes ago, he continues to lie to the American people about the state of testing and the spikes in coronavirus in this country. He continues to lie to the American people that the reason why we're seeing these spikes in cases is doing more testing. Well, why is it that the former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney who essentially still works for administration, why did he put out an op-ed on CNBC yesterday saying that testing remains a very big problem in this country? And so no, Anderson, getting to your question, there isn't anyone to reign him in and make sure he doesn't do that in the Rose Garden this evening, and what I think we’re left with for the rest of this campaign and the President using the Rose Garden like a rally space, what we saw tonight was a bait and switch. They told us it was going to be a press conference. The White House put out a statement that said he's having a press conference in the Rose Garden. He spoke and went on a rambling tirade for 53 minutes and took ten minutes of questions, one of the questions from — was essentially a propaganda outlet for the president.
COOPER: You know, what I don’t understand is, you know, the President early on tried to portray this as he was a wartime commander in chief. Fine. If this — if coronavirus is an invasion from outside our shores attacking America, if that is really what it is and the president early on was saying it was, fair enough way to look at it, the idea that in the midst of an attack on America, a president of the United States would, you know, not just continue to make the lies he does constantly but spend an hour in the Rose Garden with this rambling, you know, rift on all his greatest, you know gripes and — and — and grievances.
ACOTSA: Yeah.
COOPER: He would be relieved of duty if he was a commander in chief. I mean, it was really extraordinary. If we're under attack, this is what the president of the United States is doing and you know if he spend an hour doing it in front of reporters today, it's what he does all day long to the — to the — you know, as you said, the kool-aid drinkers and the next of kin who are the only people who can stand to be around him any longer.
ACOSTA: That's right, Anderson. And you know, one of the things he did during this press conference, so-called press conference, it wasn't a press conference, was he went back attacking China and going, as you said, one of the greatest hits that he likes to put out there that China’s solely responsible for this pandemic in this country and what’s been taking place around the world. As we recall and been trying to make this clear to the American people from the very beginning of all this, the President has time and again praised China, praised Xi Jinping and so on and so Anderson, I think one of the reasons why the event in the Rose Garden was 53 minutes of rambling incoherence and 10 minutes of question is because the President is out of good answers and he kind of know — you know, as incoherent as he was, I think he knows what the questions are going to be, but he knows he can’t answer them and so that is why we got a rally in the Rose Garden.
COOPER: Well, there’s no policy. He has no — there is no plan.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
COOPER: There is no plan. There is no plan for opening schools. There is no plan.
ACOSTA: And most especially — exactly. Most especially schools.
COOPER: — for improving testing. There is no plan for the PPE, which we're still freaking talking about PPE four months into this thing. It's just stunning. I’ve got to —
ACOSTA: And you have to wonder — yeah. You have to wonder why he thinks the American people want to put children back in schools when he's been wrong so many different occasions since the beginning of all this, Anderson.
COOPER: Yeah. Jim Acosta, appreciate it. Thank you.
ACOSTA: You bet.
