On a special hour-long Sunday edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, panelist and National Journal writer Ron Fournier resumed his strong disdain for Republican frontrunner Donald Trump by lambasting him as having “bigoted” and “sexist rhetoric” for a man who makes “irresponsible comments” which exhibit “his shallowness on policy.”
However, Fournier also resurrected his consistent criticism of Hillary Clinton over her repeated lies concerning her e-mail scandal that included “another disingenuous talking point” from her after it came out on Friday that 22 of her e-mails have been withheld because of their top secret content.
Taking on Trump early in the show, Fournier noted that the Republican electorate feels “disconnected from the political system” over a variety of issues and thus “want disruption in the worse possible way in this country and Donald Trump promises it in the worst possible way.”
Fournier added before shifting to his predictions about the large GOP race that the billionaire possesses “bigoted rhetoric, sexist rhetoric, irresponsible comments” which all “shows his shallowness on policy” and since “he's a brilliant exploiter of people's fears, he's not a very good man, in my opinion.”
The former AP reporter and frequent Special Report panelist saved plenty of fuel in the tank for later in the show when the topic of discussion turned to Clinton’s e-mail scandal:
What happened this week exposed another disingenuous talking point of Hillary Clinton. She's been saying all along, oh, this is just a matter of the State Department and the CIA. They're debating over what's confidential and what's not. Well, the State Department just said no, no, we also agree — Obama’s State Department — that these were top-secret e-mails.
As for “[t]he other thing she keeps saying,” Fournier blasted Clinton’s assertion that her e-mails “weren't marked classified when I touched them”:
First of all, when you're secretary of state, a lot of things you're talking about is born classified and second of all, there have people who have been prosecuted for mishandling unmarked e-mail. She knows that, her campaign knows that, more importantly, the FBI and the Justice Department know that.
The relevant portions of the transcript from CNN’s Inside Politics on January 31 can be found below.
CNN’s Inside Politics
January 31, 2016
8:06 a.m. Eastern
RON FOURIER: The Republicans are really disillusioned and disconnected from the political system. They're anxious about the economy. They're anxious, especially his voters, about the way demography is changing in this country. People want disruption in the worse possible way in this country and Donald Trump promises it in the worst possible way. He's bigoted rhetoric, sexist rhetoric, irresponsible comments about shows his shallowness on policy. He's a brilliant exploiter of people's fears. He's not a very good man, in my opinion, but look, on the race overall, I think the biggest number that jumped out to me was that 46 percent of Iowa Republicans say they are still open to changing in their minds. It's still a very fluid race and Marco Rubio is about where Rick Santorum was in the last poll last time and Santorum won, so, I wouldn't be surprised waking up on Monday night because I'll take a nap, waking up Monday night and realizing that either Trump or Cruz or Rubio has won the caucuses.
(....)
8:39 a.m. Eastern
FOURNER: What happened this week exposed another disingenuous talking point of Hillary Clinton. She's been saying all along, oh, this is just a matter of the State Department and the CIA. They're debating over what's confidential and what's not. Well, the State Department just said no, no, we also agree — Obama’s State Department — that these were top-secret e-mails. The other thing she keeps saying — now she's left with well, they weren't marked classified when I touched them. First of all, when you're secretary of state, a lot of things you're talking about is born classified and second of all, there have people who have been prosecuted for mishandling unmarked e-mail. She knows that, her campaign knows that, more importantly, the FBI and the Justice Department know that.
JOHN KING: And the big debate about this — some people have differing views, there's one fact, again, if she had just not had a private server, these e-mails would have been available months ago because they would have been in the government files and we couldn't have been dealing with this now, but —
FOURNIER: Nine months into her term, that was made — the regulation was not to do that.
KING: We'll see how this one plays out.
