On Friday afternoon, the narcissism and partisanship from some CNNers was alive and well thanks to senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta and supposedly non-partisan CNN historian Douglas Brinkley openly lobbying for President Trump to not end the DACA program and lambasting his Hurricane Harvey response.
At no point did Acosta and Brinkley attempt to show neutrality in flaunting their hypocrisy by denouncing Trump’s self-centered behavior when it is they who can’t stop promoting their own agendas (with a piece of fake news along the way too).
“Doug, since we’re talking about DACA, how big of a decision is this? I mean, this seems to be a larger decision, a more profound decision that could be very defining for him than it was for pardoning Joe Arpaio because you have so many young kids affected by this,” Acosta wondered to Brinkley after shifting gears to DACA from the Harvey relief efforts.
Brinkley provided only his latest example of how he’s not there to provide a down-the-middle historical perspective but rather raging, far-left takes:
Absolutely. I mean, one has to hope that President Trump does the right thing and allows these DACA DREAMers stay here in the United States. The idea of booting them out, giving them a year or two to move to a country where they may not even speak the language and to leave the exiling of a whole class of people, a horrible story unfolding in the coming months and years, so let's hope that doesn't happen.
If you didn’t know who said that, it could just as easily be attributed to anyone from Kamala Harris to Luis Gutierrez to Chris Matthews. And whenever that’s the case, it’s safe to say you’re a mindless partisan.
Not to be outdone, Acosta followed up by lamenting about DREAMers losing everything in Harvey to only then be deported:
And can you imagine if you live in an area that's been flooded out, maybe your home taken out, and you're a DREAMer, and then find out that the President has taken away your DACA status. I mean, that sounds like a very bad P.R. problem for this White House potentially.
Brinkley responded like Jorge Ramos would, stating that this would be “horrific” even though Trump is “not very popular in urban areas of the United States, but I promise you in Houston where the Latino community is very large he's not a beloved President, yet people are hoping that he'll show some emotion.”
“So what a cold thing to do if he went down to Houston or Louisiana and did a DACA speech down there, saying we're going to boot you. So, I don't expect that to happen. I'm hoping when the president gives hints, I love the DREAMers type thing, he means it and ends up doing the right thing on Monday and getting this issue behind us,” he added.
Brinkley also spread some pants-on-fire fake news when he argued that DREAMers are “American citizens and need to be treated as such.” While Brinkley may think that, the facts remain that DREAMers are illegal immigrants, no matter their age.
Acosta continued wallowing in that possibility he raised earlier, wondering: “How can you even pull the rug out from under them after saying, repeatedly, you're going to show great heart?”
The so-called historian then reiterated how ending DACA would “be a public relations disaster...[b]ut it seems to me the moments high here for the President to do the right thing” and rebuke “the alt-right.”
As for Trump’s return to Texas on Saturday, Brinkley demanded that the President exhibit “empathy” and channel, among others, “Bill Clinton...after the Oklahoma City bombing and the empty chairs of Oklahoma and the heart that he showed.” So, by that, Brinkley would imply Trump should attack Rush Limbaugh? Good luck with that shameful suggestion.
“He needs a moment where we're feeling a kind of empathy from him and he's often been described, President Trump, as having a narcissistic personality. That means you don't have an ability for empathy. You're — you’re basking in self-love. He needs to transcend that just like the people of Houston and the Gulf south are transcending the storm, he needs to transcend that hesitation and get to the people, hug the real victims of the storm,” he concluded.
As the Fox News Channel’s Greg Gutfeld pointed out on Wednesday night, Democratic leaders Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin showed emotion by shedding tears and crying out on TV in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Turns out, such emotion didn’t make their mistakes with flooded school buses and inadequate resources go away.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s Wolf on September 1:
CNN’s Wolf
September 1, 2017
1:47 p.m. Eastern
JIM ACOSTA: Earlier in the hour you saw the President talking about this decision on DACA. He said it might happen today or over the weekend. In just the last few moments, want to point out this slight distinction. The President saying tomorrow, Sunday or Monday we might see a decision on DACA. So, it sounds as if this holds, the President saying we won't get a decision on this today. Doug, since we’re talking about DACA, how big of a decision is this? I mean, this seems to be a larger decision, a more profound decision that could be very defining for him than it was for pardoning Joe Arpaio because you have so many young kids affected by this.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY: Absolutely. I mean, one has to hope that President Trump does the right thing and allows these DACA DREAMers stay here in the United States. The idea of booting them out, giving them a year or two to move to a country where they may not even speak the language and to leave the exiling of a whole class of people, a horrible story unfolding in the coming months and years, so let's hope that doesn't happen. I can't imagine he's going to make Saturday a DACA day. He's got to get down to the Gulf south and show some heart and emotion. He only got medium reviews going there before, Jim, when we went down to Corpus Christi and kind of stood about a half a football field away from people, and I can't imagine many of the people struck in the Gulf south are of Latino heritage and for him to go and do DACA while he’s down there, it seems to me to be farfetched. Probable leaking at Sunday, probably Monday morning.
ACOSTA: And I was go to ask you, Doug because you're from that area and know it well. I imagine you have a good number of DREAMers who live in the Houston area. And can you imagine if you live in an area that's been flooded out, maybe your home taken out, and you're a DREAMer, and then find out that the President has taken away your DACA status. I mean, that sounds like a very bad P.R. problem for this White House potentially.
BRINKLEY: Horrific and already he’s not very popular in urban areas of the United States. But I promise you in Houston where the Latino community is very large he's not a beloved President, yet people are hoping that he'll show some emotion. So what a cold thing to do if he went down to Houston or Louisiana and did a DACA speech down there, saying we're going to boot you. So, I don't expect that to happen. I'm hoping when the president gives hints, I love the DREAMers type thing, he means it and ends up doing the right thing on Monday and getting this issue behind us. These are obviously American citizens and need to be treated as such.
ACOSTA: And he's under so much pressure inside the White House. You have people like Stephen Miller, his policy writer who is a veteran of Jeff Sessions Senate office and the Attorney General, who are pushing him to get tough on these DREAMers, get tough on immigration, and yet, you have people like Gary Cohn, the economic adviser, the more moderate folks inside the White House who are saying to the President, be extremely careful with this and you have the president, he has promised time and again to show great heart to these kids. How can you even pull the rug out from under them after saying, repeatedly, you're going to show great heart?
BRINKLEY: I think it’d be a public relations disaster for the President, but we've seen him walk into PR disasters before. So, anything's possible. But it seems to me the moments high here for the President to do the right thing. So what if Miller doesn't like it. So what if some of the alt-right doesn't like it. He seemed to be able to purge the Bannon crowd lately. Hopefully this is showing a new Donald Trump heading into September here where he doesn't polarize our country more on an issue that polls show they don't agree with the President on. Most people want to embrace the DREAMers. They recognize they're essential American citizenship and for him to go that far right and that draconian and do something that filled with malice seems to me it's only going to see a President who's already struggling with below 40 percent approval rating sink much lower.
ACOSTA: And speaking of how he's going to be perceived down there, you mentioned he was in the region just a few days ago and there was a video that got everybody's attention when he said, look at this crowd here, look at this turnout, and it did leave a blemish on his performance down there. He didn't really get up close and personal with very many people either, in contrast with the Vice President who was doing just that yesterday. How do you think he needs to handle himself when he goes down to Texas and Louisiana tomorrow?
BRINKLEY: Well, I think what he needs to have a Trump moment when he shows empathy. It seems to be his short suit, and by that, I mean, look at what Bill Clinton did after the Oklahoma City bombing and the empty chairs of Oklahoma and the heart that he showed. Look at President Barack Obama after the tragedy in Charleston when he sang Amazing Grace. Look at Ronald Reagan after the Challenger disaster. He needs a moment where we're feeling a kind of empathy from him and he's often been described, President Trump, as having a narcissistic personality. That means you don't have an ability for empathy. You're — you’re basking in self-love. He needs to transcend that just like the people of Houston and the Gulf south are transcending the storm, he needs to transcend that hesitation and get to the people, hug the real victims of the storm.
ACOSTA: Yeah, and Doug, apparently just a few moments ago, the President praised the first responders down there in the region.
