While covering Donald Trump boarding Air Force One on Friday morning, John Berman -- the co-anchor CNN Newsroom's morning editions with Poppy Harlow -- referred to the Republican president's news conference the day before, which he said “received mixed reviews, to say the least.”
Berman also stated that Trump was going to visit the Boeing plant in Charleston, South Carolina, where he was “going to talk about jobs, hopefully not going to criticize the media” since “that isn’t what people want to hear.”
In addition, the Cable News Network host noted:
And you do wonder what the talk has been inside the White House this morning because you saw the president giving a news conference. He claimed to be having fun during that news conference.
You saw his smiles from his staff during the news conference itself, but it received mixed reviews, to say the least.
“Today,” he continued, “there are a lot of people, I think, in Washington, a lot of people in the media who looked at this and said that this is not the type of news conference that is helpful to the president of the United States.”
Berman sarcastically added: “You wonder if they looked at that inside the White House and said 'We’re gonna do that again. We liked that so much we’re gonna do that again.'”
The CNN anchor began the segment by stating that Trump's “goal is to talk about jobs. That's a work trip. Then there's a campaign trip in Florida. He's going to hold a rally, a campaign-style rally.”
Co-anchor Poppy Harlow interjected that the event will be “a big rally tomorrow, his first rally as president.”
“Biggest ever.” Berman joked. “The biggest since the Ronald Reagan era at least.”
“Now look, it's a political stop as opposed to a governmental stop,” he noted.
“It's what he thrives off of,” Harlow added. “I mean, this did behoove him during the campaign, and obviously, it's what he and the administration think he needs right now. The question is: To what end?”
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
Berman then noted:
Well, it may be what he's doing today may be more of what he needs right now: to go and actually to do the work of the American people and talk about manufacturing, to talk about jobs.
What he has been doing at the White House has been overshadowed by so much by … the chaos within the administration. Look, there's no permanent national security advisor this morning because the president was rejected by Admiral Robert Harward, a man respected on both sides of the aisle.
“So what he's going to do here,” Harlow stated, “and what he's done when making visits to plants from Carrier in Indiana on and to Ford et cetera. He's going to meet with them. There will be a photo op you can get with the chief executive. He will talk to workers, and he will press the importance of keeping jobs in America.”
She then noted that the president has been critical of Boeing -- and other companies -- regarding “the cost of things that Boeing makes to the American taxpayer; maybe he'll announce a deal on costs.”
“It should be noted,” Berman commented, that “Boeing had a lot at stake with a lot of the policies that the president wants to implement with China, for instance. Boeing actually does not want, you know, tougher trade policies with China. Not at all. They do huge business in China.”
“That's a source of enormous concern, and Boeing also makes Air Force One,” he continued, and “the president wants to make the costs come down.”
“At the same time as this is happening,” Harlow interjected, “the vice president is in Europe trying to reassure U.S. allies after that press conference yesterday.”
She then noted what Trump supporters across the country tell her: “This is what they want. They want a president who's going to fight for their jobs, and remember, jobs in a plant like this in Boeing are good-paying jobs. They're jobs they can support a family on. These are not minimum-wage jobs.”
“They want to see these jobs saved,” Harlow continued. “They want to see more of these jobs because of deals that they believe this president can make. That's what he's going to likely discuss with the chief executive of Boeing, and perhaps he'll walk away with a little bit better price tag on the next Air Force One.”
As NewsBusters previously reported, “all three morning shows were beside themselves” on Friday “as hosts and correspondents breathlessly hurled one sensational adjective after another to describe the event, including “raucous,” “combative,” “shocking,” “jaw-dropping,” “unhinged” and “astonishing.”
Apparently, Berman is another person in the “mainstream media” having a difficult time accepting President Trump and his lack of fear when criticizing the press.
