Major Garrett is unhappy with Donald Trump. The CBS This Morning correspondent inserted a petulant commentary to his report on the President’s visit to Poland. Regarding an international press conference, Garrett complained, “In a nation where press freedoms are in flux, the President eagerly criticized the U.S. media and former President Obama.”
Garrett added, “American presidents traveling abroad typically uphold American values, such as press freedom and the institution of the presidency. Mr. Trump, for his own reasons, did not.” So, just to review, by critiquing the press, CBS’s official position is that the President didn’t “uphold American values?” Seems pretty obvious why Americans no longer trust the press.
Earlier, Garrett set up his critique by comparing, “Mr. Trump met with the Polish president Andrzej Duda whose government has been criticized in some quarters of Europe for limiting press freedom and judicial independence.”
What set off Garrett? At a press conference, Trump said of CNN: “They have been fake news for a long time. They've been covering me in a very, very dishonest way.”
Surprisingly, in a follow-up segment on CBS, network analyst Ian Bremmer defended Trump’s critique in Poland of Obama. The President was discussing attempted hacks by Russia during the 2016 campaign:
IAN BREMMER: I think Trump was completely right in saying in Poland today that Obama was president when the hacks occurred. He could have taken action, he didn't, and he said, “Hey, if Trump looked like he was going to win, Obama would have done more.” I think that's actually an accurate analysis.
GAYLE KING: But if he had taken action at the time, don't you think trump would have said, "See, they're meddling with the election?"
BREMMER: Of course. But Trump wasn’t President. Obama is. In other words, I kind of expect more from a President. Trump is getting criticism now. Obama didn't get as much then and we're kind of forgetting all that.
A transcript of the segment is below:
CBS This Morning
7/6/17
8:02am ETDONALD TRUMP: On both sides of the Atlantic, our citizens are confronted by another danger, one firmly within our control. This danger invisible to some but for millions of the Poles, the steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and wealth of the people. The west became great not because of paperwork and regulations, but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies.
NORAH O’DONNELL: The President just wrapped up his speech and is now heading to Hamburg, Germany, to meet with world leaders at the G20 summit. Major Garrett is in Warsaw with what the President had to say. Major, good morning.
MAJOR GARRETT: Good morning. The president said Poland is an example of courage in the face of oppression. He specifically praised Poland’s historic, but ultimately unsuccessful, resistance to Nazi occupation and its persistent efforts throughout the Cold War to undermine Soviet dominance here and throughout Europe. In a speech, Mr. Trump also hailed Poland as one of the few NATO nations that annually meet its defense spending obligations and, by the way, he praised it for buying millions of U.S. made weapons.
The President also criticized Russian's invasion of Crimea in Ukraine and backing regimes in Syria and Iran. Earlier Mr. Trump met with the Polish president Andrzej Duda whose government has been criticized in some quarters of Europe for limiting press freedom and judicial independence. On North Korea, the President said he’s considering, quote, “very severe things” in response to the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That is, technology that could reach the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. Ahead of tomorrow's first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump said Russia and other countries meddled in the 2016 presidential election. In the end the President said, quote, “nobody really knows the source of the cyber intrusions,” even though at the highest levels of the U.S. intelligence community, they have concluded Moscow was to blame.
And in a nation where press freedoms are in flux, the President eagerly criticized the U.S. media and former President Obama. American presidents traveling abroad typically uphold American values, such as press freedom and the institution of the presidency. Mr. Trump, for his own reasons, did not.
8:09
IAN BREMMER: I think Trump was completely right in saying in Poland today that Obama was president when the hacks occurred, he could have taken action, he didn't, and he said, “Hey, if Trump looked like he was going to win, Obama would have done more.” I think that's actually an accurate analysis.
GAYLE KING: But if he had taken action at the time, don't you think trump would have said, see, they're meddling with the election?
BREMMER: Of course. But Trump wasn’t President. Obama is. In other words, I kind of expect more from a President. Trump is getting criticism now. Obama didn't get as much then and we're kind of forgetting all that.
