On Sunday, CBS News ran two high-profile interviews with two very influential political movers and shakers, the Jane Pauley interview with Hillary Clinton during Sunday Morning and Charlie Rose’s interview with Steve Bannon on 60 Minutes. And the two interviews couldn’t be anymore different. Pauley’s was mournful as she tried to connect with Clinton over her loss to Trump, while in the other, Rose was eager to fight and became combative as he lectured Bannon.
On nearly every topic the two discussed, Rose lectured and berated Bannon about America and his worldview. “America was, in the eyes of so many people, and it's what people respect America for, it is people have been able to come here, find a place, contribute to the economy,” Rose opined about DACA. “That's what immigration has been in America. And you seem to want to turn it around and stop it.”
“Can I remind you, a good Catholic, that Cardinal Dolan is opposed to what's happened with DACA. Cardinal Dolan,” Rose scolded and spat.
At one point, Rose began to harangue Bannon for Trump’s response to the terrorism and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia. “I tell you where many people suggest it should have gone, it should have gone in terms of denouncing specifically from the very beginning Neo-Nazis and white supremacists and people of that political view,” Rose asserted. “And you didn't at first instinct. In fact, you seemed to be doubling down in terms of a moral equivalency.”
Rose even initiated as shouting match with Bannon over the support President Trump got from the likes of David Duke:
BANNON: … the left-wing media makes them up as some huge part of Donald Trump's coalition.
ROSE: David Duke! David Duke!
BANNON: David Duke shows up for every media opportunity because you guys put the cameras--
ROSE: But you did say-- no-- no, well, but-- the media does not make David Duke say what he says. They applauded what the president did. That's what David Duke did.
BANNON: David Duke-- the president has condemned David Duke and what David Duke stands for.
The topic of Trump’s use of Twitter was the last portion of the sit-down interview CBS aired, with the rest being posted online. Bannon praised Trump’s use of Twitter as “extraordinary” because he could go over the head of the “pearl-clutching” media to speak to the people directly.
And as would be expected, Rose had his own strong opinions he wished to force into the conversation. “It's not a question of going over the head of the American-- of-- over the head of the media, it's what he says … No, it's not a question about right or not right,” Rose ranted and he tried to speak over Bannon. “It's not a question of appropriateness. It's a question of whether it's in his interest. That's the point. Not the appropriateness of it.”
“I don't believe he thinks that they're looking out what's in his best interest, OK? He's not gonna believe that I don't believe that, and you don't believe that, OK,” Bannon said, calling out Rose’s ridiculousness.
In contrast, Pauley’s interview with Clinton came off as though she was interviewing a disaster survivor, even asking permission to discuss the night of Election Day. One of her toughest questions was about if the house she bought in anticipation of becoming president still ‘haunted’ her. It was the cushy short of softball interview one expected from the network publishing Clinton’s latest book.
Rose, on the other hand, was looking to carve out a pound of flesh from his interviewee. This was clear even when looking at his past interview with Clinton where he fawned over his “friend” and read a gooey Maya Angelou poem about her to her. No poems to Bannon here.
Transcript below:
CBS
60 Minutes
September 10, 2017
7:00 PM Eastern(...)
CHARLIE ROSE: America was, in the eyes of so many people, and it's what people respect America for, it is people have been able to come here, find a place, contribute to the economy. That's what immigration has been in America. And you seem to want to turn it around and stop it.
STEVE BANNON: You couldn't be more dead wrong. America was built on her citizens.
ROSE: We're all immigrants.
BANNON: America was built on her--
ROSE: Except the Native Americans--
BANNON: --don't-- don't g-- don't-- don't--
ROSE: --who were here.
BANNON: --don't-- don't give me-- this is the thing of the leftists. Charlie, that's beneath you. America's built on our sys-- on our citizens.
(…)
ROSE: Can I remind you, a good Catholic, that Cardinal Dolan is opposed to what's happened with DACA. Cardinal Dolan!
BANNON: The Catholic Church has been terrible about this.
ROSE: OK.
BANNON: The bishops have been terrible about this.
(…)
ROSE: Boy, that's a tough thing to say about your church.
(…)
ROSE: You will not be attacking Donald Trump?
BANNON: No, our purpose is to support Donald Trump. By the way--
ROSE: And destroy his enemies?
BANNON: To make sure his enemies know that there's no free shot on goal. By the way, after the Charlottesville situation, that's what I told General Kelly, I was the only guy that came out and tried to defend him. I was the only guy that said, "He's talking about something, taking it up to a higher level." Where does it all go? Where does this end? Does it end in taking down the Washington Monument? Does it end in taking down--
ROSE: I tell you where many people suggest it should have gone, it should have gone in terms of denouncing specifically from the very beginning Neo-Nazis and white supremacists and people of that political view. And it should have gone there because those were people that Americans in World War II went to fight against and should have instantly denounced them. And you didn't at first instinct. In fact, you seemed to be doubling down in terms of a moral equivalency.
(…)
BANNON: I was of the opinion that you should condemn both the racist and the Neo-Nazis because they're getting a free ride on--
ROSE: You said to me--
BANNON: Hang on, they're getting off a free ride off Donald Trump. They're getting a free ride. Because it's a small group, it's a vicious group. They add no value. And all they do is show up in the-- and the mainstream media and the left-wing media makes them up as some huge part of Donald Trump's coalition.
ROSE: David Duke! David Duke!
BANNON: David Duke shows up for every media opportunity because you guys put the cameras--
ROSE: But you did say-- no-- no, well, but-- the media does not make David Duke say what he says. They applauded what the president did. That's what David Duke did.
BANNON: David Duke-- the president has condemned David Duke and what David Duke stands for.
(…)
ROSE: New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan, citing both Hebrew scripture and the New Testament, called Steve Bannon's criticism of the church's support for immigrants "preposterous," and "so ridiculous that it doesn't merit a comment."
(...)
BANNON: I think-- by the way, I think-- when you say presidential I think he's very presidential.
ROSE: OK.
BANNON: OK-- OK, I think he's very presidential. This is one of the things he uses OK, he uses Twitter-- and not-- they used to call me, "Oh, you're the-- you're the enabler of the Twitter." I think what he does on Twitter is extraordinary. He disintermediates the media. He goes above their head and talks directly to the American people.
ROSE: It's not a question of going over the head of the American-- of-- over the head of the media, it's what he says.
BANNON: It's what he says. No, it's what he says that the mainstream media, the pearl-clutching mainstream media. The pearl-clutching mainstream media. What they deem is not correct, what they deem is not right.
ROSE: No, it's not a question--
BANNON: If you ask--
ROSE: --about right or not right.
BANNON: What you deem--
ROSE: It's not a question of appropriateness. It's--
BANNON: It's what you deem is--
ROSE: --it's a question of whether it's in his interest. That's the point. Not the appropriateness of it.
BANNON: OK, I don't think he needs-- The Washington Post, and The New York Times, and CBS News. And I don't believe he thinks that they're looking out what's in his best interest, OK? He's not gonna believe that, I don't believe that, and you don't believe that, OK? This is another just standard in judgment that you rain upon him in the effort to destroy Donald Trump. He knows he's speaking directly to the people who put him in office when he uses Twitter. And it sometimes is not in the custom and tradition of what the opposition party deems is appropriate. You're-- you're absolutely correct, it's not. And he's not gonna stop.
(…)
