CNN White House correspondent John Harwood joined CNN Newsroom host Kate Bolduan on Wednesday to recap night two of the Republican National Convention where he spun Democrats defenders of revered institutions against a Trumpian Republican Party that does no such thing. At one point, Harwood snidely concluded, “There's no reverence for institutions in the way there has been in the Republican Party of the recent past or the Democratic Party.”
Bolduan set Harwood up with the accusation that went happened on Tuesday night of the RNC was an unprecedented partisan use of presidential power for campaign purposes, "We have also never seen the president use the trappings of the office, of the presidency in such an overt way to campaign. Handing out a pardon, holding a naturalization ceremony during the convention, having his secretary of state give a speech from Jerusalem."
After adding that Mike Pompeo's "It might not be allowed," she surmised that whether it was legal or not, "it also here seems clear that what is right and what may work may not be the same thing well, we don't know whether this is going to work for the President and nothing else that he's done politically has worked."
Harwood concurred, arguing that it shows, "a reflection of Donald Trump’s particular profile and values and that is to say he does not really care about anything beyond himself and therefore he doesn't care about the respect for institutions of government."
Moving beyond Trump to the Republican Party more generally, Harwood argued that conservative skepticism of government power and government's ability to solve problems is to blame for the state of the country and such alleged improper behavior, "but it is also the apotheosis of where the modern Republican Party is going. It disdains government and disdains the use of government to address problems of Americans and has not been good at running the government. And so the idea that you use the government, them, as a tool, peculiarly or particularly for your political interests is not really a long step."
Harwood concluded by declaring, "There's no reverence for institutions in the way there has been in the Republican Party of the recent past or the Democratic Party," a point Bolduan readily agreed with, "Definitely not the Trump Party, that’s the Trump Republican Party. That's for sure."
Whatever one thinks of Pompeo speaking from Jerusalem, it's hardly unprecedented for cabinet secretaries to address their party's conventions. In 2012, five Obama cabinet secretaries addressed the DNC, but Bolduan and Harwood refused to give that context.
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript for the August 26 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom
11:47 AM ET
KATE BOLDUAN: John, we have also never seen the president use the trappings of the office, of the presidency in such an overt way to campaign. Handing out a pardon, holding a naturalization ceremony during the convention, having his secretary of state give a speech from Jerusalem. It might not be allowed, but it also here seems clear that what is right and what may work may not be the same thing well, we don't know whether this is going to work for the president and nothing else that he's done politically has worked.
JOHN HARWOOD: Well, we don’t know whether this is going to work for the president, nothing else he’s done politically this year has worked. He trails Joe Biden nationally by a significant in significant margin, trails in the battleground states, this is partly a reflection of Donald Trump’s particular profile and values and that is to say he does not really care about anything beyond himself and therefore he doesn't care about the respect for institutions of government, but it is also the apotheosis of where the modern Republican Party is going. It disdains government and disdains the use of government to address problems of Americans and has not been good at running the government. And so the idea that you use the government, them, as a tool, peculiarly or particularly for your political interests is not really a long step. There's no reverence for institutions in the way there has been in the Republican Party of the recent past or the Democratic Party.
BOLDUAN Definitely not the Trump Party, that’s the Trump Republican Party. That's for sure. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.
