When it comes to coverage of Donald Trump, there is probably very little that followers of the left wing media haven't heard thrown at him, from accusations, to name calling, to outright falsehoods. But Monday, one day after Trump's interview with CBS's 60 Minutes aired, CNN's Dana Bash took it to a whole new level on Inside Politics, by going after Trump's soul.
Bash began the segment leading in to a clip of the 60 Minutes Q and A, regarding Trump and his enemies.
BASH: President Trump says he wants to go to heaven, but he's not willing to forgive his enemies to get there. Check out this exchange from 60 Minutes.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Let's say you pass away. You're entering the next life, and all you have to do to enter paradise is feel love and forgiveness for James Comey, Nancy Pelosi, anyone who you have expressed hate for over the years, do you think you can do it?
TRUMP: Well, then I wouldn't be real, would I? I mean, if I said to you, sure, the easy answer to that is, oh, yes, I could forgive.--DOUTHAT: No, I don't think it's an easy question at all--
TRUMP: But I find them to be extremely dishonest people. Very bad people, very bad for our country. I love our country far more than I can love people and people like that.
DOUTHAT: Is the answer no?
TRUMP: The answer is no. I want to be honest.
DOUTHAT: You have had the most charmed and remarkable life of any American in my entire lifetime. And you are telling me you couldn't find it in your heart to forgive some of your enemies?TRUMP: Uh--
DOUTHAT: After all that's been given to you.
TRUMP: I mean, it's such an easy answer. All I have to do is say, yes, I can--DOUTHAT: Again, I don't think it's an easy answer, that's why I ask it--
TRUMP: Can I be honest? I probably cannot do that. No. Because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.
Bash praised the CBS interview -- don't tell Scott Pelley and the other Bari Weiss-haters.
BASH: So telling first of all, can we just talk about Ross Douthat? I mean, incredible. I watched the longer version was so, so well done and thought of things like this, that most of us don't. But that was so telling. Forgive me, but a window into his soul.
That is a very unusual question coming from CBS. But can CNN journalists demonstrate they understand where Douthat is coming from? Even if Bash had majored in theology at Notre Dame, instead of political communications at George Washington University?
Bash turned to White House correspondent Alayna Treene, who gave credit to Trump for honesty: "I mean, he was honest. He really was. He could have just said, yes, I will. But that's how he truly feels."
Reporter Manu Raju then turned that it into how Trump has a politics of spite: "And that drives somewhat of the decision-making in the Trump administration too, whether it's whether the Justice Department or public policy or whether they can cut deals with people, because he simply does not like them personally."
They aren't reflecting on their own psyches, as if CNN never displays their spite and hatred in their journalism -- that their decision-making isn't driven by loathing of Trump.
Bash then played the role of psychotherapist, that Trump has no guilt about his spite unlike "probably everybody" on Earth, before throwing it to Tia Mitchell of The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
BASH: It's also, for anybody who's had to think about forgiving somebody who's wronged them, which is probably everybody on the planet, there is a sense of relief and you're not, you know, sort of things aren't weighing on you. He doesn't care about that.
MITCHELL: He like carries it with him, quite frankly.
BASH: He uses it as fuel.
MITCHELL: Absolutely. And I also think about like the religious right that supports him. And but here he is like, there are all these examples of how they support him despite, kind of him, doing things contrary to what they believe in from a religious perspective. And I think, I find that fascinating.
TREENE: I also think there are a lot of his supporters like that about him.
Religious conservatives would certainly nudge him on forgiveness, and his supporters have always liked his willingness to battle the Democrats and the media, which are basically the same thing.
But the lack of theology classes came at the end, when Bash tried to thank all her Experts for coming: "Well, I'm glad to know that I'm sitting with people who are all going to go to heaven. Thank you so much."
In September, Bash happily told The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell "you blessed us with your presence," after she ranted about the Republicans and their misinformation "triangle of doom." She didn't ask her about the state of her soul. This is CNN!
