During the panel discussion on CBS’s Face the Nation, fill-in anchor John Dickerson said the quiet part out loud Sunday when discussing the recent indictment of former President Donald Trump when he expressed his concern that Trump and his allies in the Republican Party could frame the indictment in a way that makes there more of an appetite for Trump.
“Some people say, well the Republicans have rallied around Donald Trump, he's under threat,” Dickerson observed. “But what if the way this is being framed by Republicans, which is this is all partisan, this is all a manipulation of the system, creates an appetite for Donald Trump,” he worried.
“In other words if it's all rigged we want the best rigger in the game on our side,” he added.
CBS White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe put Dickerson’s nerves at ease by noting “if that's the case, then I think the polling continues to show us they can nominate him but he may be set up to lose again.”
O’Keefe went on the explain that “In the general election we're seeing Americans overall believe that this was justified, that he should be prosecuted, right, and then, of course, he lost last time, and there's nothing yet that suggests that he would win a general election other than perhaps some horse race numbers this early.”
It wouldn’t be a CBS segment if there wasn’t some pro-Biden PR so O’Keefe filled that quota in the next breath.
Summarizing a recently released poll, O’Keefe editorialized that there’s “one thing I think gives Democrats something to be hopeful about those general election matchups, you asked about attributes in a President, who you want or what characteristics you want in a President.”
“Topping the list was truthfulness, right? Character and empathy. At the bottom of that list, was someone who’s articulate, energetic and youthful, right?”
“So if you're the Biden campaign right now you go oh, they want the truthful truth telling—that's us, right? We're not the articulate youthful one. So that whole argument has gone away. That’s why they remain hopeful that if it is Trump they can still win this thing,” O’Keefe added hopefully.
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The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:
CBS Face the Nation
6/11/2023
11:21:57 a.m. EasternJOHN DICKERSON: Some people say, well the Republicans have rallied around Donald Trump, he's under threat. But what if the way this is being framed by Republicans, which is this is all partisan, this is all a manipulation of the system, creates an appetite for Donald Trump. In other words if it's all rigged we want the best rigger in the game on our side.
ED O’KEEFE: Well, if that's the case, then I think the polling continues to show us they can nominate him but he may be set up to lose again.
DICKERSON: In the general—
O’KEEFE: Because overall, in the general election we're seeing Americans overall believe that this was justified, that he should be prosecuted, right, and then, of course, he lost last time, and there's nothing yet that suggests that he would win a general election other than perhaps some horse race numbers this early. The one thing I think gives Democrats something to be hopeful about those general election matchups, you asked about attributes in a President, who you want or what characteristics you want in a President. Topping the list was truthfulness, right? Character and empathy. At the bottom of that list, was someone who’s articulate, energetic and youthful, right? So if you're the Biden campaign right now you go oh, they want the truthful truth telling—that's us, right? We're not the articulate youthful one. So that whole argument has gone away. That’s why they remain hopeful that if it is Trump they can still win this thing.
