On Friday morning’s New Day, CNN co-hosts Jim Sciutto and Alisyn Camerota brought on political correspondent Abby Phillip to campaign for their presidential candidate, Joe Biden. The hacks bashed President Trump and fawned over Biden’s campaign strategy. Most outrageously, Phillip accused Trump of forwarding segregationist policies, when Biden literally was a segregationist in the 1970's.
Sciutto and Phillip began the segment by assaulting Trump’s reelection chances:
JIM SCIUTTO: Because we know the President does not want this -- this virus, this outbreak to -- to hurt his election chances. I mean, it’s as simple as that. It’s as transparent as that. Has it not penetrated among his senior advisers that as the outbreak gets worse, his political fortune gets worse as well?
ABBY PHILLIP (CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT): Yeah Jim, I don't know how to explain the President's approach to this because as you point out, it really defies everything that we know about how the public is viewing his -- his handling of this. And -- and what that means for his reelection, I do believe that, you know, folks in the White House are keenly aware of that. They do know that. The question is can they get through to the President of the United States who wants to treat this like a public relations problem, simply ignoring it and changing the subject to other things. You know, just this morning a -- a new ABC News, Washington Post poll showed 52% of the -- of Americans strongly disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Eager to dismiss serious concerns about Biden's capacity to be president, Camerota stratagized over how the Democratic candidate could flip the issue and attack Trump:
Abby, on a purely political note, you know, the Trump campaign likes to seize on the moments where former Vice President Joe Biden uses non sequiturs or says seemingly nonsensical things, do you think that the Biden campaign is preparing ads or seizing on moments where President Trump says things like dishwashers don't use water and showerheads don't have water?
If she was not a Democratic shill, Camerota would have noted that Biden has committed multiple gaffes that raise very legitimate questions about his mental state. He forgot the words to the Declaration of Independence, twice said that the long-deceased Margaret Thatcher condemned Trump, said that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,” couldn't even remember the number for donating to his campaign, told an autoworker that he was “full of s***” and that he did not need an “AR-14,” said that “you ain’t black” if black Americans do not vote for him, said that coronavirus has killed 120 million Americans, and that gun violence has killed another 150 million.
In response to Camerota, Phillip fawned over ads being produced by never-Trumpers and Biden’s campaign itself:
You see a lot of outside groups, whether it is the Lincoln Project, these sort of never-Trump Republicans, or outside Democratic groups that are in support of -- of Joe Biden, running those kind of ads. When you look at what the Biden campaign is actually doing, they have a pretty disciplined message that is strongly contrasting Biden with the President on the issue of corona -- on the coronavirus, on the issue of compassion specifically. Some of these ads have a really soft touch. You're not seeing them go strongly negative. And I think it’s because they have the ability to let other people do that kind of work for them. But I think it’s because people at this point can't avoid what President Trump says or does so they don't have to necessarily amplify that. But what they are amplifying instead is -- is Biden as a different kind of leader.
After Sciutto accused the Trump administration of trading in a "dog whistle" for a "bullhorn" when it came to "racial issues," Phillip accused the President of being a segregationist for criticizing housing policies pushed by Biden:
Yeah. I mean, these are housing regulations that are designed to combat racial segregation in housing in this country. The President has recently, for whatever reason, decided that in -- as part of his re-election play to the suburbs, to the white suburbs, he's going to start warning that Joe Biden is going to destroy the suburbs but he's gotten so much more explicit than that, saying that -- that these regulations intended to -- to desegregate the suburbs will bring crime and lower property values. These are literally arguments that come out of a 1960's, 1970's, 1980's playbook.
If Phillip was interested in facts, she would have reported on Biden’s history with racism. He called the Daughters of the Confederacy “fine people” at a Senate hearing. In the late 1970's, Biden was a leading segregationist and justified it by saying that he did not want his children to grow up in a “racial jungle." He also praised ardent segregationist, George Wallace: “I think the Democratic Party could stand a liberal George Wallace — someone who’s not afraid to stand up and offend people, someone who wouldn’t pander but would say what the American people know in their gut is right.”
CNN is not interested in the facts, but in helping Biden win the presidency.
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Read the full July 17th transcript here:
CNN New Day
07/17/20
6:25:30 AM
JIM SCIUTTO: Is it a time to laugh. Joining us now is CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip. Abby, help us understand the -- the disconnect here. Because we know the President does not want this -- this virus, this outbreak to -- to hurt his election chances. I mean, it’s as simple as that. It’s as transparent as that. Has it not penetrated among his senior advisers that as the outbreak gets worse, his political fortune gets worse as well?
ABBY PHILLIP (CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT): Yeah Jim, I don't know how to explain the President's approach to this because as you point out, it really defies everything that we know about how the public is viewing his -- his handling of this. And -- and what that means for his reelection, I do believe that, you know, folks in the White House are keenly aware of that. They do know that. The question is can they get through to the President of United States who wants to treat this like a public relations problem, simply ignoring it and changing the subject to other things. You know, just this morning a -- a new ABC News, Washington Post poll showed 52% of the -- of Americans strongly disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Six in ten say they don't trust what he says about public health issues. And -- and overwhelming majorities of Americans say they want more safety over a rush to reopen. So the President is so out of step with the public, he is not changing course. And I -- I can't explain it except that perhaps I think that he thinks that if he simply just talks about other things, this virus and this problem is going to go away for him.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Abby, on a purely political note, you know, the Trump campaign likes to seize on the moments where former Vice President Joe Biden uses non sequiturs or says seemingly nonsensical things, do you think that the Biden campaign is preparing ads or seizing on moments where President Trump says things like dishwashers don't use water and showerheads don't have water.
PHILLIP: Well you know what’s been interesting, Alisyn, look at the -- the ad landscape. You see a lot of outside groups, whether it is the Lincoln Project, these sort of never Trump Republicans, or outside Democratic groups that are in support of -- of Joe Biden, running those kind of ads. When you look at what the Biden campaign is actually doing, they have a pretty disciplined message that is strongly contrasting Biden with the President on the issue of corona -- on the coronavirus, on the issue of compassion specifically. Some of these ads have a really soft touch. You're not seeing them go strongly negative. And I think it’s because they have the ability to let other people do that kind of work for them. But I think it’s because people at this point can't avoid what President Trump says or does so they don't have to necessarily amplify that. But what they are amplifying instead is -- is Biden as a different kind of leader and the President makes that so easy for them because he continues to refuse to show any sort of understanding of the crisis level of experience that so many Americans are having right now.
SCIUTTO: Abby, we've talked on -- on this network about the -- the sort of end of the dog whistle and the -- the advent of the bullhorn when it comes to racial issues from this administration and yesterday was one of those moments. When the President was talking about fair housing regulations, the end of the suburbs. Tell us what his message was there. Because it -- it was a deliberate racial message, was it not?
PHILLIP: Yeah. I mean, these are housing regulations that are designed to combat racial segregation in housing in this country. The President has recently, for whatever reason, decided that in -- as part of his re-election play to the suburbs, to the white suburbs, he's going to start warning that Joe Biden is going to destroy the suburbs but he's gotten so much more explicit than that, saying that -- that these regulations intended to -- to desegregate the suburbs will bring crime and lower property values. These are literally arguments that come out of a 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s playbook. Which by the way, is -- is when President Trump was a sort of at -- you know --that -- that is -- was at the height of his sort of maturity in -- in adulthood. This is what he knows best. And he typically reverses back to those kinds of things. But this -- this is 2020. It really makes me wonder, do people hear those messages the same way. Are these messages that black and brown people coming into your neighborhood will bring crime and lower property values, are they really going to resonate the way that he thinks that they are? I don't know. The -- the suburbs are actually becoming more diverse. Who exactly is he speaking to with this? And I think it -- it -- like you -- it --- it’s not even a dog whistle anymore, it’s just being said out loud and it’s part of the reelection strategy that they've been really leaning into increasingly over the last several weeks.
