CBS This Morning hosts on Friday unveiled a new series that basically amounts to an op-ed during the supposedly straight news show. Calling it “The Reporter’s Notebook,” co-host John Dickerson celebrated the White House’s reversal on splitting children as a victory for “the human tribe.” Norah O’Donnell touted co-host Gayle King’s lecture from this week that “the Statue of Liberty weeps” at the administration’s actions.
After talking about the divisive state of the country, Dickerson cheered: “In the end, the President had zero tolerance for his own policy because even at a time of tribal shouting, the human tribe spoke louder.”
He added: “In the pulpits and at picnics, purple momentarily replaced red and blue. People whose elitism was only defined by children or having once been a child, all agreed. “
Despite the fact that the Obama administration also caused pain to children, Dickerson made sure to explain why this one was worse: “The Obama administration put unaccompanied children in cages, too, but it did not split children from their parents as regular policy. That was the difference.”
In his own words, Obama putting kids in cages didn’t bother Dickerson much?
On Monday, King told viewers that “the Statue of Liberty weeps.” Dickerson on Friday bragged over the show’s impact: “And think about that. You were there Monday shining a light on this story and the President reversed his decision days later.”
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more:
CBS This Morning
6/22/18
8:42:33 to 8:46:17CBS Graphic: Dickerson Refflects on How Families Drove Change This Week
GAYLE KING: In the middle of this non-stop news cycle, we want to take a moment to reflect. John shares his thoughts on the big story in our new series. We are calling it Reporter’s Notebook. Such a great name for a series for you, John Dickerson. This week, he looks at the zero tolerance immigration policy.
JOHN DICKERSON: Politics has become so tribal in America that political conversations can now feel like the equivalent of the debate over laurel vs. yanni . No amount of shouting changes what we hear. This routine looked to repeat itself over the splitting the families of immigrants illegally crossing the border. The President’s tribe rallied because the critics were the usual ones. Liberals, elites, and supporters of looser immigration. The President blamed Democrats.
DONALD TRUMP: That’s the Democrats law.
DICKERSON: The attorney general said the Bible approved and the Secretary of Homeland security said the separations weren't happening at all. None of this was true and that felt familiar also. Meanwhile the children that were officially not being separated from their parents kept being separated from their parents. But then the pattern broke. The President's allies in Congress abandoned him. Religious leaders, even sympathetic ones, were appalled. Splitting families could not be defended by splitting hairs. In the pulpits and at picnics, purple momentarily replaced red and blue. People whose elitism was only defined by children or having once been a child, all agreed. But what did they agree on?
AUDIO OF CROWD CHANTING: You are not forgotten!
DICKERSON: They agreed to oppose splitting families. The basic unit of love that binds our common humanity. The Obama administration put unaccompanied children in cages, too, but it did not split children from their parents as regular policy. That was the difference.
AUDIO OF CROWD: This is what community looks like!
DICKERSON: Americans were objecting to their government as the author of fresh misery for ragged sleeved, warn, thin fellow human beings whose only shield against their misery was kinship and hope.
WOMAN: Do the right thing. Treat these people as the human beings as they are.
DICKERSON: And breaking families meant punishing children. The stories piled up, the young boy whose mother had sown notes with the phone numbers of his relatives in clothes watching his father being taken away. The boy who cried himself into convulsions and the six-year-old girl repeatedly saying her aunt's phone number after her mother was taken away.
TRUMP: We’re signing an executive order.
DICKERSON: In the end, the President had zero tolerance for his own policy because even at a time of tribal shouting, the human tribe spoke louder.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Wow. That's powerful that the President had zero tolerance for his own policy.
KING: And to sum it up the way you did, too. I’m telling you, Sister Norma said you can’t look at those faces and not feel like you have to do something that this is just wrong.
DICKERSON: Well, it was the separation that everyone — that moved everyone to this story, the separating families and it landed on the children.
O’DONNELL: You know, Gayle, you started the week talking about the Statue of Liberty and we're reminded people come to this country because we are the country of human rights, of rights —
KING: Exactly. Exactly.
O’DONNELL: — of a Constitution, of a Bill of Rights. All of it. They come here for that very reason. So I think this was offensive to people's understanding of what America really is.
KING: We're going to start keeping count of how many kids remain separated from their parents. The count today is 1,842. We'll keep count. It started with 2,342. As of today, 1,842 still remain separated and that's 1,842 too many. In the hospital, Norah, when your baby is born, you're given a little bracelet with your name and his name. There has to be a system that we can keep track. And that has not happened. We failed these people miserably.
O’DONNELL: Agreed.
KING: And we will keep track.
O’DONNELL: And think about that. You were there Monday shining a light on this story and the President reversed his decision days later.
KING: A lot of light shined.
