If cherry growers have trouble harvesting their crops this year, they should consider hiring CNN staffers. Because the network has demonstrated outstanding cherry-picking abilities.
On CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish aired clips of interviews with four Americans. And--surprise!--all of them were critical of Trump's economic policies.
First up was a shopper outside a Lowe's home improvement store, who said he wasn't able to afford "the price increase."
Next was a Washington State dairy farmer who, apparently referring to tariffs, said they will increase the cost of his supplies while limiting his ability to sell his products to Mexico.
Then there was a Seattle small-business owner who choked up while saying, "It hurts to charge exorbitant prices. It just hurts." He added that he is forced to charge higher prices, otherwise, "how can we exist here?"
Finally, there was a small-business owner in Phoenix saying, "We'll survive, but I don't think it's fair. After 27 years, instead of me projecting myself to retire, I'm projecting myself to work three times more." Yikes! Another 81 years of work. Darn that Donald Trump!
If Cornish/CNN had so desired, they could easily have found an American manufacturer saying that his sales will boom since competing foreign products will be less competitive due to tariffs. But that would have harshed Audie's anti-Trump buzz!
And just as Cornish excluded any Trump fans from her people-in-the-street clips, so did she keep alive her habit of excluding Trump fans from her panels. Today's panel consisted of a New York Times reporter, someone from the staunchly Trump-critical Dispatch, and a writer of the equally Trump-antagonistic Atlantic.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
3/7/25
6:03 am ETAUDIE CORNISH: That uncertainty doesn't just impact Wall Street. It also makes business owners and shoppers nervous, basically leading them to stock up on some items or hold off on other purchases.
REPORTER: Are you able to afford the price increase?
SHOPPER OUTSIDE LOWE'S HOME IMPROVEMENT: No, not really. I haven't been able to afford much.
WASHINGTON STATE DAIRY FARMER: That will cost more for our inputs. But then we rely on the market in Mexico to get rid of some of our product. So then on the sales side, we're getting hit. So we're getting hit on both ends.
SEATTLE SMALL-BUSINESS OWNER: I hate to charge exorbitant prices because it just [chokes up], it just hurts. Absolutely, it has to be passed on. Otherwise, how can we even exist here?
. . .
CORNISH: Michael Warren, I hear the president talk, using the phrase disturbance. There might be a disturbance. I want to play for you a cut of a small business owner in Arizona, basically speaking, before the tariff pause was announced.
SMALL BUSINESS OWNER IN PHOENIX: We're losing a lot of money. Like, if I sell a door for $4,000, now it's worth $5,000. And if I don't charge my clients $5,000, then I lose out at $1,000. So we're talking about big money here.
We'll survive, but I don't think it's fair that after 27 years, instead of me projecting myself to retire, I'm projecting to myself to work three times more.
