CNN Newsroom host and former Obama State Department official Jim Sciutto, along with former Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen, came up with a new reason to support the Democrats' massive partisan spending bill on Thursday: American foreign policy depends on it.
If that seems like a leap in logic, Sciutto tried to explain: "You know the importance of the president's domestic agenda as he comes here to this key international summit. The president has said as much to lawmakers. He needs these plans in place, not only to have a climate change plan because that's top of the agenda here at G-20 and next week in Scotland, but also to show that the U.S. democratic system can work."
Sciutto also claimed, "That's crucial to his success and to America's pitch in effect to the world," and wondered: "How much would the president be diminished as he arrives here in Rome without an agreement in place?"
Cohen, who at one point in his life was a Republican senator, agreed passing partisan Democratic legislation is necessary, not just for climate change, but to combat the nation's adversaries:
Well, I think it's not only the president who would be diminished. I think United States would be diminished. I think everyone knows in the G-20 and elsewhere knows President Biden has said America is back. Well, America may be back as far as President Biden is concerned but if the Congress is not with him, that means our government is basically dysfunctional and that will undercut not only President Biden, it will undercut America's leadership throughout the world because it's certainly not going to come from Russia, China, or any other country.
If America is to be a truly great country, Cohen argued, Congress needs to fall in line: "It has to come from the United States and if the president doesn't have the backing of Congress, it sends a signal that Joe Biden may be back, but America is not back."
Naturally, Sciutto and Cohen are both being massive hypocrites. When Donald Trump was president, they did not urge Congress to pass his domestic agenda to show the world that the system isn't dysfunctional. They did not claim that impeachment would "undercut" him or America's leadership on the world stage. Just more partisan ramblings disguised as sophisticated foreign policy analysis.
This segment was sponsored by AARP.
Here is a transcript for the December 28 show:
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
10:34 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: You know the importance of the president's domestic agenda as he comes here to this key international summit. The president has said as much to lawmakers. He needs these plans in place, not only to have a climate change plan because that's top of the agenda here at G-20 and next week in Scotland, but also to show that the U.S. democratic system can work. That's crucial to his success and to America's pitch in effect to the world. How much would the president be diminished as he arrives here in Rome without an agreement in place?
WILLIAM COHEN: Well, I think it's not only the president who would be diminished. I think United States would be diminished. I think everyone knows in the G-20 and elsewhere knows President Biden has said America is back. Well, America may be back as far as President Biden is concerned but if the Congress is not with him, that means our government is basically dysfunctional and that will undercut not only President Biden, it will undercut America's leadership throughout the world because it's certainly not going to come from Russia, China, or any other country. It has to come from the United States and if the president doesn't have the backing of Congress, it sends a signal that Joe Biden may be back, but America is not back.
