When Kasie's away, Sciutto will play . . .
We wouldn't call CNN This Morning host Kasie Hunt fair 'n balanced. She certainly leans to port. But at least when it comes to assembling her panels, Hunt has sought some viewpoint balance.
Hunt consistently has one bona fide Republican on her panel, typically Brad Todd or Matt Gorman. Neither is a fire-breathing advocate in the mold of Scott Jennings, but neither are they the CNN equivalent of "MSNBC Republicans." The two generally make the case for Trump, and for Republicans in general.
But with Hunt away this week [and in line to be replaced by Audie Cornish], hard-core lefty Jim Sciutto has been hosting the show. His pernicious influence was apparent in the composition of today's panel, which consisted of Isaac Dovere, Meghan Hays, and Joe Walsh.
Dovere is a CNN reporter, and surely no conservative. Meghan Hays is a Dem strategist and a former Biden aide.
There was also some entertaining wishcasting by Hays. She suggested that, given Trump's efforts in office to date, Democrats would score gains in the midterm elections and in the 2028 presidential election.
In her cheerleading, Hays chose to ignore the her party's grim predicament. Democrats are dealing with historically bad approval ratings. Think how painful it must have been for the Washington Post to publish a story with this dread headline: "Democrats’ brutal poll problem. Two recent polls show the party is more unpopular than it has been in nearly two decades."
The article reported that whereas Americans are about evenly split in their views of the Republican party, Democrats are underwater by a whopping 26 points. Adding to Dem depression was this paragraph [emphasis added]:
"Democrats’ 57 percent unfavorable rating is their highest ever in Quinnipiac’s polling, dating back to 2008, while the GOP’s 43 percent favorable rating is its highest ever."
Then there was the recent CNN poll that found 58 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents wanted "major changes" in their party.
And 70% of Americans say Trump is making good on his campaign promises.
Unlike the UK, we don't have snap elections in the US. But if Trump could call one today, what do you imagine the results would be?
The other pundit on the panel was Joe Walsh, introduced by Sciutto as a "former Republican Representative for Illinois."
Unsuspecting viewers would think that Walsh was the Republican on the panel. In fact, Walsh is an ardent Trump antagonist who in 2020 said he'd support any Dem running against Trump. He endorsed Biden in 2020, again in 2024, and Kamala Harris when she replaced Biden on the ticket. The first comment out of Walsh today was to suggest that in their efforts to trim wasteful government, Trump and Musk are acting illegally.
And next time Sciutto assembles a panel, perhaps he could include an actual Republican.
CNN This Morning
2/13/25
6:02 am ETJIM SCIUTTO: As President Trump and Elon Musk look for more places to slash funding and jobs, the Department of Education finds itself very much front and center.
REPORTER: How soon do you want the Department of Education to be closed?
DONALD TRUMP: Oh, I'd like it to be closed immediately. Look, the Department of Education's a big con job. So they rank the top 40 countries in the world. We're ranked number 40th. But we're ranked number one in one department, cost per pupil.
SCIUTTO: Joining me now to discuss, Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter, Meghan Hays, Democratic strategist, former director of message planning for the Biden White House, and Joe Walsh, former Republican representative for Illinois and host of the podcast, The Social Contract. Good to have you all here.
I mean, you know, the question about these cuts, right, is they're clearly popular with some. When do they start affecting average Americans, is the question, Joe? And is there a potential danger there for the Trump administration that folks will begin to notice that they, they don't get services they used to rely on?
JOE WALSH: Yes, because as most Americans right now really have no idea what's going on. I mean, think about that. Most Americans don't know what Elon Musk is doing. They're not going to feel the impact of this stuff until it hits.
Jim, I say this as a former Member of Congress, that government's too big. We can look for efficiency and all of that. But I keep thinking about the rule of law. There's a legal way to do this. And this gets missed every time we talk about this. Darn near everything that Trump and Musk are doing right now is being taken to court. And just unilaterally firing federal employees that Congress has already appropriated money for: that story's got to be told.
SCIUTTO: Meghan, the Democrats' strategy seems to be to fight this in court, right? They're still struggling to find not just a message, but it seems, someone capable of delivering that message in a convincing fashion. Who's going to step to the fore? Or is the Democratic strategy, it strikes me the Democratic strategy is, just wait for people to feel the pain.
MEGHAN HAYS: I mean, that's unfortunate. I don't think that's going to be a good service for our country. I think that will be seen in the midterms. I do think that will end up being what happens. I don't think Democrats know who the messenger is going to be. I don't think a lot of members of Congress are stepping up to the plate. Thank goodness for these legal organizations that are out there suing, because members of Congress really are not providing that leadership right now. And I think they are starting to, but it seemed like they got caught a little flat-footed. I'm not sure what more they can do. I don't think protesting outside of these agencies is really helpful. I think it makes them look breathless [?]
And I do think, until people realize that their services are being cut, they are not going to understand what's going on here. So I think this is going to be something that will be felt in the midterms and in 2028, which unfortunately Donald Trump will not feel the effects of. This will not impact Donald Trump. It will impact the Republican Party moving forward.
SCIUTTO: Unless he decides to run again, which he does occasionally say publicly.
