On Monday morning’s New Day, CNN hosts Erica Hill and John Berman interviewed Maggie Haberman, CNN political analyst and New York Times White House correspondent. Throughout the interview, both hosts and Haberman taunted President Trump for appearing “defeated” in a video of him after his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday.
The segment hyped disappointing attendance figures at the rally, but mostly focused on the video of Trump arriving at the White House Saturday night. Hill brought the footage up almost immediately when broaching the subject of the rally:
Developing this morning, CNN has learned President Trump is very upset over the poor turnout at his Oklahoma rally. This video you see the president arriving back at the White House after that event, looking a little dejected.
She also claimed to know that Trump was very upset by the low attendance both before and after the rally:
The President was warned aboard Air Force One on his way to Tulsa that the crowds were smaller than expected. That he was stunned, yelled at his aides backstage while looking out at the endless rows of empty blue seats in the upper bowl of the stadium, according to four people familiar with what took place.
All three described Trump as looking “defeated,” and Hill said that he appeared “a little dejected.” To further to drive in this point, Haberman analyzed Trump’s alleged behavior after the rally:
He was muted on the way back from the rally, not sort of his more upbeat self, as normal. He had gotten himself into a bit of a better state of mind by the end of the rally and the end of his performance. But there was no masking what had taken place and there was no masking the fact that the coverage was bad.
They described Trump as “defeated” in a mocking manner, which is not surprising. Throughout last week, CNN freaked out about Trump having the rally, making gloom and doom predictions about COVID-19 spreading due to the rally and even touting fears of white supremacist violence.
Hill scrutinized Trump’s body language in the video:
He really does look defeated in that video. The fact that we're seeing him with his tie undone, that crumpled MAGA hat in his hand. I mean, if you look at the president's face there, this is a man who has always had a very, you know, sort of calculated public image. From when he was involved in business and real estate to now as President. He wants to put forth this image in his mind of power and of strength. The fact that he let himself be captured on camera like that is, is fascinating to me.
Perhaps most absurdly, Haberman alleged that Trump behaved like a pampered child in the weeks before the rally and that his aides set up the rally to soothe him. She also claimed that Trump needed a large crowd to boost his ego:
Look, he had been as, as giddy as a kid in the days leading up to this rally. He was really excited about it. Aides conceded that this was being done in part to try to lift his spirits, which were not in a good place in the last couple of weeks. And so for him to show up and find that all of these promises of all of these people who were going to show up and adore you and cheer for you, that they aren’t there, for him, that was crushing.
Clearly CNN wanted to make sure viewers associated Trump with "defeat" by repeatedly using the phrasing.
The full transcript for the June 22 interview is here:
CNN New Day
06/22/20
7:09:13 AM
ERICA HILL: Developing this morning, CNN has learned President Trump is very upset over the poor turnout at his Oklahoma rally. This video you see the president arriving back at the White House after that event, looking a little dejected. The Trump campaign spent weeks touting as many as a million people had asked for tickets. The Tulsa fire department says in all, about 6,000 -- just about 6,200 supporters showed up Saturday night. Joining us now is CNN political analyst, Maggie Haberman, White House correspondent for the New York Times. Maggie, good morning, you’re reporting that the President was warned aboard Air Force One on his way to Tulsa that the crowds were smaller than expected. That he was stunned, yelled at his aides backstage while looking out at the endless rows of empty blue seats in the upper bowl of the stadium according, to four people familiar with what took place. I would imagine this is still bothering him this morning, Maggie.
MAGGIE HABERMAN (CNN POLITICAL ANALYST; NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT): It's still bothering him, and I think that we're going to know how long it continues to bother him, frankly, based on how long there is media coverage of it, because he's incredibly attuned to that, as we know. Look, this did not go as planned. Campaign rally attendance in a general election for President tends to not mean a whole lot, but the Trump campaign has made it its entire metric and message about Joe Biden. That Joe Biden can't compete on crowds. So if you set yourself up and you talk about how there are nearly a million registrations for tickets yes, that is going become the story. And as we saw, there was just nothing even close to full in a 19,000 capacity center the other night.
JOHN BERMAN: And Maggie, you know, we saw that walk from the helicopter and I see it in your reporting, he's feeling this. A sense that looked like -- it looked like he felt defeated as he was walking out of Marine One.
HABERMAN: My understanding is that he did feel defeated. He was muted on the way back from the rally, not sort of his more upbeat self, as normal. He had gotten himself into a bit of a better state of mind by the end of the rally and the end of his performance. But there was no masking what had taken place and there was no masking the fact that the coverage was bad. And he’s very, as I’ve said, he’s very attuned to that. Look, I don't think this portends great things for him for rallies going forward. I do think it is a reminder that a lot of folks in the White House have been living in the bubble in which they’ve been telling themselves that the coronavirus fears is just the media driving this. What you saw in that lack of attendance it at least in part, because people are afraid of getting sick. And just because the President tells them, you know, masks are politically correct or a statement against him, a lot of people are clearly not like that, not buying that.
HILL: Maggie, I’m also fascinated, you know, as John pointed out, he really does look defeated in that video. The fact that we're seeing him with his tie undone, that crumpled MAGA hat in his hand. I mean, if you look at the president's face there, this is a man who has always had a very, you know, sort of calculated public image. From when he was involved in business and real estate to now as President. He wants to put forth this image in his mind of power and of strength. The fact that he let himself be captured on camera like that is, is fascinating to me.
HABERMAN: It tells you that he wasn't able to, to basically put a happy face on something that for him was just an enormous disappointment. Look, he had been as, as giddy as a kid in the days leading up to this rally. He was really excited about it. Aides conceded that this was being done in part to try to lift his spirits, which were not in a good place in the last couple of weeks. And so for him to show up and find that all of these promises of all of these people who were going to show up and adore you and cheer for you, that they aren’t there, for him, that was crushing.
