On Monday, CNN Newsroom Jim Acosta hosted Michael Gold, political correspondent for The New York Times. Unsurprisingly, both downplayed former President Donald Trumps attempted assassination and whine that people think he was “saved by God.”
Acosta began the segment by stating “obviously, there have been calls for unity and civility” following the recent assassination attempt. Gold quickly responded that Trump “has been calling for unity at his rallies” but claimed that Trump only says that to “people who already follow him” not the whole country.
Gold went on to complain that the Republican National Convention, which has different themes each night, will include “themes [that] are largely attacking President Biden.”
Desperately attempting to create sympathy for democrats, Gold added that “unity merges with the need to set the tone for the rest of the race and that tone is going to be a pretty negative one for Democrats.”
Acosta then asked Gold what he thought about the narrative of Trump being a “savior” to the country. "A lot of what you're seeing on social media, a lot of what some of the former president's allies are saying is that they're seeing the fact that he was able to survive this assassination attempt as almost, like, a religious event that he was saved by God," he scoffed.
Gold responded that it was the “tone for a lot of people.” He then huffed that Trumps team has viewed what he went through as a “political martyrdom” and this shooting only “fuels” that narrative even more:
And for a lot of people here, they've seen Trump as kind of the savior of the country already anyway and the fact that something like this happened sort of adds to the political martyrdom that he and his team have been fueling for the last year if not longer, especially with the criminal cases against him.
Gold concluded that “this only serves to emphasize a narrative that was already in place.”
Click "Expand" to view the transcript:
CNN Newsroom with Wolf Blitzer
7/15/2024
11:51:33 – 11:54:12JIM ACOSTA: Michael Gold is a political correspondent for The New York Times. He's in Milwaukee covering the Republican National Convention.
Michael, I mean, obviously, there have been calls for unity and civility in the wake of this assassination attempt on the former president. But what can you tell us about what you're picking up on? I mean, one of the things that we've seen in just the last several hours is that the former president is now back on Truth Social, and he's accusing the Biden administration of weaponizing the Justice Department and so on. So, for all of these calls of civility, his tone is a about where it was prior to what took place on Saturday.
MICHAEL GOLD (POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES): I think there was always a question about how long calls for unity might last and how long it would be before he returned to the campaign attacks that have defined the race this year. And I would note also, to be fair, President Trump has been calling for unity at his rallies, but he's been delivering that call to a pretty limited audience. It's mostly people who already follow him.
I think something that's very clear, if you look at the program for the Convention which remains the program that it always is, most of the nights have themes that are announced and those themes are largely attacking President Biden. My colleague, Michael Bender, and I reported that there was an effort to review some of the speeches in the wake of what happened on Saturday and few of the speeches that had been submitted needed to change.
So, I think there is an idea of unity here. But it's going to be very interesting to see how that unity merges with the need to set the tone for the rest of the race and that tone is going to be a pretty negative one for Democrats.
ACOSTA: And how are folks there in Milwaukee -- Republican operatives, activists, and so on, how are they viewing Donald Trump now after what took place on Saturday? I mean, a lot of what you're seeing on social media, a lot of what some of the former president's allies are saying is that they're seeing the fact that he was able to survive this assassination attempt as almost, like, a religious event that he was saved by God. I wonder if you picking up on some of those -- I guess some of those angles out there in Milwaukee.
GOLD: I think that definitely is the tone for a lot of people here. You know, there's some campaign volunteers I've seen, there's some delegates I've spoken to who feel like Trump was saved by what happened. He was very lucky.
I think you heard Trump say that in interviews with the Washington Examiner and The New York Post. He seems very aware of how close he came to having something more serious happen. And for a lot of people here, they've seen Trump as kind of the savior of the country already anyway and the fact that something like this happened sort of adds to the political martyrdom that he and his team have been fueling for the last year if not longer, especially with the criminal cases against him. So, I think this only serves to emphasize a narrative that was already in place.
