It was the interview that went horribly off the rails for CNN's Brooke Baldwin on the April 7 edition of Newsroom. Her guest via Skype from Syria was a 2013 chemical attack survivor, Kassem Eid, who two days earlier pleaded for help from President Donald Trump on her show. He returned yesterday which is when he went way off the CNN message by not only heaping effusive praise upon Trump for his missile attack response but also strongly rejecting the premise inserted by Baldwin in a prepared Hillary Clinton clip that the president was hypocritical because of his refugee policy.
BROOKE BALDWIN: When news of the missile strikes broke overnight in Syria, I couldn't help but think of a man who I talked to just this week who actually told me what it's like to be poisoned by sarin gas, a former activist and rebel fighter barely survived in what remains the largest chemical attack of the Syrian war back in august of 2013. Earlier today he told me of the sensation of fire in his lungs, what it was like to open his mouth to scream but actually hearing no sound, losing consciousness in the middle of the street and then waking up in a hospital. He is Kassem Eid back with us now. Thanks so much for coming back. I mean, it was just incredibly compelling hearing your first person account of the chemical attack and your pleas to -- to President Trump to do something, and now he has. What's your response?
KASSEM EID, SYRIAN SARIN ATTACK VICTIM: Thank you, again, Brooke, for having me. I woke up for some reason, I couldn't sleep. I woke up. I saw a lot of texts on my phone. I saw the news. I cried out of joy. I thanked god. I don't know. I was overwhelmed. We've been asking for protection. We've been asking for consequences for more than six years I cried out of joy. I thanked god. I don't know. I was overwhelmed. We've been asking for protection. We've been asking for consequences for more than six years and today for the first time it happened, for the very first time we see Assad held accountable just for once, held accountable for his crimes against humanity. I was overwhelmed. I felt grateful for President Trump. I felt grateful for the United States. I felt grateful for each and every person who lobbied and kept on talking until someone actually listened. I felt very, very grateful
BALDWIN: Kassem, I understand your gratitude but still you bring up Assad. He's still there, and, you know, the real question is what's next?
EID: You're right. You're absolutely right. Assad is still in Damascus. He's still ordering his troops to kill and rape and torture. He killed half a million people and displaced 12 million people. He tortured thousands and thousands of people like we saw in the report. He raped thousands and thousands of women. He helped creating is with his atrocities. He drove people to desperation to join extremist groups when they didn't find justice and they went after revenge. He displaced millions of people. He made -- he remember the little boy who drowned at the sea. He made him drown and run for his life, just like he made millions of Syrians leave their houses. We ask for safe zones in Syria. I was talking with my friends inside of Syria. Everybody kept telling me, please, if you're going to talk again, please, for the love of god, tell them we need safe zones. Tell them to stop Assad's airplanes from keep bombing us. Shortly after the raid on Assad's airport, the Assad regime and the Russians launched many attacks all across Syria with aircrafts, and they target hospitals and schools and civilians.
Time now for Baldwin to toss in her pre-prepared liberal caveat in the form of a video clip of Hillary Clinton trying to paint Trump as a hypocrite because of his refugee policy.
BALDWIN: And that's a huge piece. That's a huge piece. I know the U.S. military is investigating whether or not Russia is complicit on this and whether or not they potentially dropped a bomb on one of these hospitals to cover up that initial chemical attack, but there are people in America and I hear you supportive of President Trump and so many people are, Democrats and Republicans, but there are also people over here in America saying all right, clearly President Trump is motivated as we all have compassion for these just horrible images of, you know, these babies who were killed, but at the same time this is a man who, you know, doesn't want Syrians to come into this country with this refugee ban. Let me just play some sound. Hillary Clinton weighed in.
(begin clip)
HILLARY CLINTON: We cannot in one breath speak of protecting Syrian babies and in the next close America's doors to them.
(end clip)
BALDWIN: Quickly, Kassem, how do you see that?
Mr. Eid's epic response is where it all fell apart for poor Brooke and her liberal audience. All she could do was very meekly interject a barely audible "okay" and "understand" as Eid tore apart her obvious premise:
EID: With all due respect, with all due respect, I didn't see each and every person who was demonstrating after the travel ban. I didn't see you three days ago when people were gassed to death, when civilians were gassed to death. I didn't see you in 2013 when 1,400 people were gassed to death. I didn't see you raising your voice against President Obama's inaction in Syria that led us refugees, that made us refugees get kicked out of Syria. If you really care about refugees, if you really care about helping us, please, help us stay in our in our country.
BALDWIN: Okay.
EID: We don't want to come to United States. We want to stay in our country, with all due respect. This is hypocrisy. If you really care, if you really care, help us stay in our country. We don't want to become refugees. We want to stay in our country. Help us establish safe zones.
BALDWIN: Understand.
EID: Help us stay in our country...
BALDWIN: Understand.
EID: ...and if you just give me a few seconds just to tell President Trump once again, please, sir, what you did was amazing, what you did was powerful message of hope for a lot of people inside and outside of Syria. Please, don't stop on this. Please, help Syrians stay in their country. Please establish safe zones...
BALDWIN: Understand.
EID: ...and please take out Assad owes air force so they won't be able to commit more atrocities committing traditional weapon. Just so people can know what we've suffered in the past six years.
At this point the interview mercifully ended for Brooke Baldwin who looked like she was trying to painfully blink away the memory of the previous few minutes.
Exit question: Will Brooke Baldwin ever have the "off-message" Kassem Eid back on her show as a guest?
