While attempting to hammer the Trump campaign on behalf of the Democratic Party on Monday, CBS This Morning co-host Tony Dokoupil was treated to a history lesson from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that completely blunted the anchor’s attack. At issue was left-wing hysteria over President Trump planning to accept the GOP nomination from the south lawn of the White House.
Dokoupil decided to begin the interview with a series of accusations claiming it was untoward for a president to accept their party’s nomination at the White House. He lectured Meadows: “That is unprecedented in the TV era. The White House is known as the people’s house, is generally reserved for matters of state, not matters of campaigning. Why break that norm now?”
Meadows was unfazed as he reminded Dokoupil that Democratic Party icon Franklin Roosevelt once accepted his party’s nomination from the Oval Office: “Well, I think this is an unprecedented time. But obviously it’s about the President connecting with the American people. And as you know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt actually addressed the nation, accepted the nomination during another unprecedented time.”
Ignoring that historical fact, Dokoupil insisted that Trump was wrong:
Well, excuse me, Mr. Meadows. When you say that the President chose the White House because it’s about connecting with the American people, that seems to underscore the political nature of this speech. Does it not concern you that you’re mixing the official taxpayer business of this country with the re-election business of the Republican Party and Donald Trump?
Again, Meadows pointed to the record:
Well, the President has been all over the country connecting with the American people. And this is about a message on what the President will do and what he can do and has done for the America people....It’s actually coming from the White House lawn, as you know. And so, it’s not an address from the Oval Office like Franklin Delano Roosevelt did so many years ago.
Dokoupil feebly attempted to brush aside reality by splitting hairs: “I was going to say, that was before the TV era. So it’s a different – you know, the imagery of the White House as a backdrop is certainly different in the television era.”
So it’s perfectly fine as long as the speech isn’t on TV? That’s a pretty weak case.
Perhaps trying to make up for his embarrassing performance, later in the exchange, Dokoupil hoped that senior aide Kellyanne Conway leaving the White House would damage Trump’s reelection chances: “She managed the Trump campaign across the finish line victoriously in 2016, now we hear she is stepping away for family issues. How big of a blow is that to the campaign?”
After Meadows praised Conway and noted that she was “making a priority for family,” Dokoupil obnoxiously offered this unfounded declaration: “The cynical reading, Mr. Meadows, is that she wanted to jump ship now because she saw the ship sinking.”
Meadows hit back hard: “Well, that is cynical. And anybody who knows Kellyanne Conway knows that she has never shied away from a fight. And so, to suggest that is just not based on the facts. You – you know Kellyanne, you know that that’s not the case.”
Dokoupil’s partisan display on Monday mirrored how he pestered Mike Pence on Friday, where he actually tried to get the Vice President to agree with Joe Biden’s nasty campaign rhetoric that the Trump administration had “cloaked America in darkness.”
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Here is a full transcript of the August 24 interview:
7:30 AM ET
TONY DOKOUPIL: Welcome back to CBS This Morning. What you are looking at right now is a live picture of Charlotte, North Carolina. That is the official host city of this week’s GOP convention. But most of the prime time speeches will, in fact, originate from Washington, D.C. And that is where we find White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. He’s joining us only on CBS This Morning. Mr. Meadows, good morning to you.
MARK MEADOWS: Good morning.
DOKOUPIL: Busy day for you to say the least, so I’m going to jump right into it.
MEADOWS: It is, sure.
DOKOUPIL: Good morning. I want to jump right into something going on at the White House later this week, and that is the President accepting his party’s nomination to run again as president. That is unprecedented in the TV era. The White House is known as the people’s house, is generally reserved for matters of state, not matters of campaigning. Why break that norm now?
MEADOWS: Well, I think this is an unprecedented time. But obviously it’s about the President connecting with the American people. And as you know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt actually addressed the nation, accepted the nomination during another unprecedented time. And so, hopefully what we’ll see is just an unbelievable address to the nation. The president is well prepped. We actually were talking about some of the issues yesterday. So we’re encouraged by what we will see and the American people will see on Thursday.
DOKOUPIL: Well, excuse me, Mr. Meadows. When you say that the President chose the White House because it’s about connecting with the American people, that seems to underscore the political nature of this speech. Does it not concern you that you’re mixing the official taxpayer business of this country with the re-election business of the Republican Party and Donald Trump?
MEADOWS: Well, the President has been all over the country connecting with the American people. And this is about a message on what the President will do and what he can do and has done for the America people. It’s about promises that were kept, the people that have been affected. And ultimately, the promises that will be acted upon in the next four years. And so, I don’t see a mixture of it. It’s actually coming from the White House lawn, as you know. And so, it’s not an address from the Oval Office like Franklin Delano Roosevelt did so many years ago.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah that was before –
MEADOWS: But I think as we look at it – that was before what?
DOKOUPIL: I was going to say, that was before the TV era. So it’s a different – you know, the imagery of the White House as a backdrop is certainly different in the television era. But I hear you saying that it’s about convenience –
MEADOWS: Yeah, I think for most – no, it’s not about convenience. I think it’s about, for most people, wanting to understand and hear from the President of the United States on what he’s going to do to for them to make sure that the next four years continue to build on the last four years. And as we look at this, we’re going to North Carolina. You mentioned that, we’re going to North Carolina today. But it’s not just to a convention center. We’re actually going to meet with farmers. We were in Wisconsin and Minnesota. So this president is willing to travel everywhere and not just convey things from a basement in Delaware.
DOKOUPIL: Well, his willingness to travel and not travel in this particular case, I do think, answers the question. But let’s talk about some of the issues, in particular the economy. At this particular moment in time, unemployment is above 10% and rising. Twenty-nine million Americans report hunger in the past week, and a third of Americans do not have the money to pay their rent or housing bill. That’s a pretty dire situation. Where is the eviction relief? Where is the enhanced unemployment? What can you tell Americans about both of those issues this morning?
MEADOWS: Well, I’m glad you asked about both of those because this president is the only one in Washington, D.C. to have acted on those issues. As you know, I was on Capitol Hill over the weekend, but we’ve been on Capitol Hill for the last three or four weeks. Our Democrats on Capitol Hill failed to come together on anything that would address unemployment, enhanced unemployment, eviction protection. So what did this president do? He took unprecedented executive action to do exactly that, to make sure that unemployment benefits continue.
DOKOUPIL: Excuse me, Mr. Meadows –
MEADOWS: To make sure that they didn’t get evicted. But I’m calling on Congress to come together. This President is willing to sign it, hopefully we’ll get something done. But we know that we have had unbelievable economic pressure because of this China virus, and this president is acting to try to return it to what we experienced for the three years prior.
DOKOUPIL: So Mr. Meadows, where is the agreement right now? Tell me what the bill would look like that the President would sign that would help American workers and American families right now.
MEADOWS: Well, I think what we can agree on right now and what Democrats, Republicans in Congress, and the President could agree on right now, is enhanced unemployment benefits. We could get there. We could also get there on school aid, on the hundreds of billions of dollars going to schools K-12. We could get there on additional assistance for small businesses, what they call the PPP program. We could actually get there on that. And we could actually get there on plussing up food stamps for some of those that have been hit hard by this, along with eviction protection. Those four or five items we agree upon.
DOKOUPIL: Alright, we’ll see if you come back to the table there with Democrats. I want to sneak in a question here about Kellyanne Conway. She managed the Trump campaign across the finish line victoriously in 2016, now we hear she is stepping away for family issues. How big of a blow is that to the campaign?
MEADOWS: Well, Kellyanne’s gonna be missed, America loves her. We certainly will miss her here at the White House. But listen, this is all about making a priority for family. That’s what this president’s about and that’s what Kellyanne Conway’s about. So it’ll be a big hole, a big blow to us. But we certainly will be praying for her as she made this decision that some people will see very – as a difficult decision. But I believe if you ask Kellyanne Conway, she believes she made the right decision for her family.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah. The cynical reading, Mr. Meadows, is that she wanted to jump ship now because she saw the ship sinking.
MEADOWS: Well, that is cynical. And anybody who knows Kellyanne Conway knows that she has never shied away from a fight. And so, to suggest that is just not based on the facts. You – you know Kellyanne, you know that that’s not the case.
DOKOUPIL: Alright, Mr. Meadows, thank you very much. Good luck reaching a deal this week on the matters we discussed. Thank you very much. And good luck with the RNC.
MEADOWS: Thank you.
