Things got painfully real for the liberal media during CNN’s New Day Sunday after Nick Adams, Founder of the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, called out the White House Correspondent’s Dinner for being “a Democratic Party worship center.” “But, I think that there's no reason for the President to go on this particular occasion,” Adams explained, after being asked if Trump should attend the lavish liberal event, “I know that it's a long-standing tradition, but in recent years it’s become a blight on the republic.”
“You know, I think the oligarchic spectacle of the fourth-estate, dressing up in a white tie to celebrate themselves accompanied by various celebrities--” he continued before being rudely cut off by flabbergasted New Day Sunday co-host Christi Paul. “You mean it’s inappropriate? You think it's inappropriate? I don't understand why you call it a blight,” she said.
He then scorned the event as “a Democratic Party worshiping center” and recalled how the event’s lampooning was harsher on Republicans. “I mean, when we have a look at what has happened in recent years, Republican presidents are mocked in a brutal way, while Democratic presidents are soothed and patted like family pets,” a point which was proven when Paul previously hyped and cut to a clip of former President Barack Obama mocking Trump at the dinner.
Paul was still shocked as she interrupted Adams again and tried to find something to come back with. “But Nick—I mean—we’ve – we’ve had all the other – I mean -- both President Bush’s have been up there. Clinton has been up there. We—it’s kind of an equal opportunity roasting to some degree. Is it not,” she finally managed to ask. He responded by reminding the viewers that according to Gallup that “trust in the media is at an all-time low…”
The CNN co-host was so befuddled that when she spouted off about Trump’s negative approval ratings (as compared to the media’s) she kept referring to him as “Obama.” “There may be a low trust in the media there's also a low trust with President Obama as well, and a 38 percent favorability rate for President Obama.”
She then tried to stick Adams with a clip of White House Chief Strategist Steven Bannon commenting at CPAC about the media not wanting to give up control of the country. Adams shot her down with help from a Media Research Center study:
Well, Christi look, I think it's very clear that President Trump has an agenda that many journalists in this country don't like. It's no secret, that journalists are far more liberal than the rest of the United States. And I don't think it would surprise anybody to know that the Media Research Center discovered that if only journalists could vote, we would only get Democratic presidents. So I think that there's a gulf between journalists and Middle America.
The MRC’s study noted that “Between 1964 and 1992, Republicans won the White House five times compared with three Democratic victories. But if only journalists’ ballots were counted, the Democrats would have won every single election.”
“I don't know you can – you can generalize all journalists as – as being liberal,” Paul declared before handing the attack over to Amanda Terkel, a senior political reporter from the radically liberal Huffington Post. “I mean, the agenda of the media that Trump doesn't like is presenting the facts, whether or not they make Donald Trump look very good,” Terkel claimed.
As much as CNN wanted to whine about Trump not attending the dinner, Adams’ quip that the event is a gathering of an elite “oligarchy” is a criticism that can be found on the left as well. In May of last year, the very liberal Bob Garfield tore into CNN’s Brian Stelter and declared the event “ethically questionable,” because “[e]verybody's too cozy and it's hard for the press to fulfill its watchdog function if you're palling around with people who you can't even ask a journalistic question of.”
Transcript below:
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CNN
New Day Sunday
February 26, 2017
7:34:48 PM EasternCHRISTI PAUL: So Nick, here’s the thing, he would have been standing at the podium himself, President Trump. He would have had the attention of everybody. Why do you think he chose not to go?
NICK ADAMS: Well Christi, it's President Trump's party and he can cancel if he wants to. I think there’s an argument to be made that it's a good opportunity for a president to present himself in a light-hearted self-deprecating way that might endear him to people that don’t necessarily like or align with his mission or objectives. But, I think that there's no reason for the President to go on this particular occasion. I know that it's a long-standing tradition, but in recent years it’s become a blight on the republic. You know, I think the oligarchic spectacle of the fourth-estate, dressing up in a white tie to celebrate themselves accompanied by various celebrities—
PAUL: You mean it’s inappropriate? You think it's inappropriate? I don't understand why you call it a blight.
ADAMS: Well Christi, I think it has been a Democratic Party worship center. I mean, when we have a look at what has happened in recent years, Republican presidents are mocked in a brutal way, while Democratic presidents are soothed and patted like family pets.—
PAUL: But Nick—I mean—we’ve – we’ve had all the other – I mean -- both President Bush’s have been up there. Clinton has been up there. We—it’s kind of an equal opportunity roasting to some degree. Is it not?
ADAMS: Well, I think it's not. I think that it's very clear that Democratic presidents get a much easier, much smoother run, Christi, than Republican presidents. And – I -- you know, I don't think that there's any reason for the President to go. I think he’s made a good decision, and I think that the recent Gallup information that came out that trust in the media is at an all-time low, only 30 percent Independents trust the media, only 40 percent of Republicans trust the media. There's a real problem here and I think that President Trump is listening to it.--
PAUL: Well it doesn’t speak well for anybody, because yes, there may be a low trust in the media there's also a low trust with President Obama [Trump] as well, and a 38 percent favorability rate for President Obama [Trump]. Let’s listen too something Steve Bannon said at CPAC earlier this week about this.
…
PAUL: Nick, what did he mean by that?
ADAMS: Well, Christi look, I think it's very clear that President Trump has an agenda that many journalists in this country don't like. It's no secret that journalists are far more liberal than the rest of the United States, and I don't think it would surprise anybody to know that the Media Research Center discovered that if only journalists could vote, we would only get Democratic presidents. So I think that there's a gulf between journalists and Middle America. And—
PAUL: I don't know you can – you can generalize all journalists as – as being liberal. Amanda, did you want to take that one?
AMANDA TERKEL: I mean, the agenda of the media that Trump doesn't like is presenting the facts, whether or not they make Donald Trump look very good. I mean yes, trust in the media is low as it is with Donald Trump. But then you have the President out there saying that the media is the enemy of the American people. You have declaring things to be fake news if he doesn't like them, going after them for using anonymous sources even though Donald Trump himself for many years loved talking to the media off the record and would actually make up fake names and talk to the media when he was being himself but would pretend to be somebody else. And you have Donald Trump deciding that the media is a good scapegoat and going after them whether it's fair or not.
BRIAN STELTER: Yeah, the President needs an opponent, and right now the opponent is the media, because the media is actually pretty strong. People are tuning in and watching and reading in record numbers right now because they want to know if what the President is saying is true or not. So, you know, I understand why he is skipping the dinner after both Bush’s and Reagan and all those Republican presidents in the past did show up. I understand why he wants to be anti-establishment and break with tradition, because he wants to break with lots of traditions. But this event was about celebrating – and it is and will be about celebrating journalism, and actually celebrating the institution of the president. It's bigger than anyone man and it's a missed opportunity, I think, for the president this year.
