Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's New Day, CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein slammed President Donald Trump's executive order limiting immigration from some Muslim countries as he called it "Trumpian bigotry masquerading as national security policy." A bit later, he laughably cited a prediction by New York Times columnist David Brooks that President Trump would fail to complete his term as President.
At 8:40 a.m. ET, after co-host Alisyn Camerota recalled complaints by White House press secretary Sean Spicer about the media referring to the executive order as a "Muslim ban," Bernstein declared:
This is a piece of Trumpist bigotry masquerading as national security policy to solve a problem that, according to all the experts in the Department of Homeland Security, wasn't there. It is to fulfill campaign promises. It is to fulfill an authoritarian vision of himself and his presidency. And to go to the truth rarely, let's go to Rudy Giuliani. Rudy Giuliani has gotten up and said, "Look, I was entrusted with finding a legal justification for a Muslim ban."
The liberal CNN analyst added:
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
He's admitted it. He said it. You can look at his exact words, which are a tiny bit different than what I just said, but that's the reality. It is a piece of essential Trumpism that is the reason that the country is divided in the way it is now, and why we have more people in the streets than we've seen since the Vietnam era, and that's not going away.
A bit later, Bernstein dubiously referred to Brooks of the New York Times as a "conservative" columnist as he cited his negative prediction of Trump's future. Referring to Republicans who are going along with President Trump, Bernstein commented:
The reason they have hitched their star to Donald Trump and are willing to go along with some of this excess is that they see a possibility of their agenda being enacted. But, as David Brooks in the New York Times -- the conservative columnist in the New York Times -- said yesterday, it is a Faustian bargain. Brooks predicted that Trump won't be able to serve his four years because of his wretched excesses.
Notably, it was recently announced that the liberal Bernstein will be a contributing editor for a new CNN initiative to do more investigative reporting.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Wednesday, February 1, New Day on CNN:
8:40 a.m. ET
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Do you want to argue semantics? Or do you want to argue what the substance of this is?
CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let's talk about reality. This is a piece of Trumpist bigotry masquerading as national security policy to solve a problem that, according to all the experts in the Department of Homeland Security, wasn't there. It is to fulfill campaign promises. It is to fulfill an authoritarian vision of himself and his presidency. And to go to the truth rarely, let's go to Rudy Giuliani. Rudy Giuliani has gotten up and said, "Look, I was entrusted with finding a legal justification for a Muslim ban."
He's admitted it. He said it. You can look at his exact words, which are a tiny bit different than what I just said, but that's the reality. It is a piece of essential Trumpism that is the reason that the country is divided in the way it is now, and why we have more people in the streets than we've seen since the Vietnam era, and that's not going away.
CHRIS CUOMO: But you do have the other half, almost, saying, "I am afraid of these people. They want to kill me in the way they are killing people in other parts of the world. Why wait?"
BERNSTEIN: Because there was, apparently, again from the experts, in place already an effective system, and it could have been studied. It could have been a temporary piece by piece, person by person reevaluation. There are so many ways to do that. Let's look at Mattis's reaction to this. Let's look at Kelly's reaction to this in private.
CUOMO: Let's look at Steve Bannon's reaction to it because that's where the idea seems to have his hand prints all over it. He says, "Twenty percent of the American population are these immigrants. Isn't that the heart of the problem? Why let anyone in at all?" It seems the President is echoing that.
BERNSTEIN: The President, first of all, even before Steve Bannon was on board in the campaign, was saying this. In essence. It is part of what Donald Trump campaigned on to basically keep Muslim immigrants out of America. The reason that we are seeing reaction to this from Republicans as well as Democrats, they got a reprieve last night with a supposedly presidential-looking announcement about a Supreme Court justice which also is part of the fact that people are in the streets because it's all part of a large Trumpist vision, Bannon vision of America that is not in keeping with our history as a bastion and open country for immigrants such as Donald Trump's own grandparents, etc., etc. This is a place we have not gone willingly in many years in this kind of attitudes toward the presidency of the United States.
(...)
BERNSTEIN: They are delighted -- the reason they have hitched their star to Donald Trump and are willing to go along with some of this excess is that they see a possibility of their agenda being enacted. But, as David Brooks in the New York Times -- the conservative columnist in the New York Times -- said yesterday, it is a Faustian bargain. Brooks predicted that Trump won't be able to serve his four years because of his wretched excesses.
