As President Trump headed to Texas on Thursday to meet with evangelical and law enforcement leaders, CNN's John Harwood mocked the audience he was addressing as he mocked the president as some sort of coward -- because he listened to Secret Service advice and went into a bunker when demonstrations outside the White House were deemed threatening to the president's safety.
Harwood told anchor Poppy Harlow "Well, what the president is doing, Poppy, is traveling to a white evangelical church in Dallas. That is the political equivalent of retreating into the bunker in the White House." Would Harwood have ever thrown this kind of insult when Barack Obama addressed the NAACP? Or his supporters at Planned Parenthood? Probably not. He watched Obama swat a fly and compared him to Dirty Harry. He's that servile.
Harwood then reported that it is possible that Trump could announce some police reforms he would support, but given Trump's character and history, it won't matter. "It is possible that he could announce what he would support in legislation from Congress or what he would offer himself in an executive order, but we already know where the president's heart is, and his heart is in continued racial division rather than unity."
CNN proclaims "Heads I win, tails you lose."
Harwood then tried to back up his claim by citing Trump's opposition to renaming military installations currently named after Confederate officers and his comments about the 75-year old protester in Buffalo who was shoved to the ground by police. Apparently, Harwood only believes Trump can do bad things. He can't fix or mitigate the bad things with some good.
Harwood concluded by condemning a recent Trump tweet about the National Guard:
let me read it, saying that ;it was a walk in the park for our great National Guard troops to take care of the areas around the White House.' That's referring what happened last week when they fired rubber bullets and tear gas at those protesters. He said 'the protesters, agitators, anarchist, Antifa and others were handled very easily.' So the president’s impulse at has been throughout his political career is to play to racial division as a source of political strength. That's why his former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis condemned his approach last week and said it was un-American.
Of course, there were plenty of instances of violence in D.C. that had to be suppressed, but Harwood and his fellow journalists would prefer to only talk about Lafayette Square.
Here is a transcript for Harwood's June 11 remarks:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
9:02 AM ET
JOHN HARWOOD: Well, what the president is doing, Poppy, is traveling to a white evangelical church in Dallas. That is the political equivalent of retreating into the bunker in the White House. White evangelicals are the strongest individual group supporting the president. He's had some erosion among that group lately, but still, you've got 80% plus approval among those voters so he's going where he can feel safe politically. We expect that he will discuss some of these law enforcement issues. It is possible that he could announce what he would support in legislation from Congress or what he would offer himself in an executive order, but we already know where the president's heart is and his heart is in continued racial division rather than unity.
We see that from his summary rejection of the idea of getting rid of Confederate symbols and even as conservative institutions like the U.S. military and NASCAR raced passed to keep up with changing public's attitude. We’ve seen that from the president's tweets about Antifa and the 75-year-old protester, suggesting he had -- repeating a Kremlin advanced propaganda theory he may have some nefarious purpose and we just got tweet from the president a few minutes ago, let me read it, saying that “it was a walk in the park for our great National Guard troops to take care of the areas around the White House.”
That's referring what happened last week when they fired rubber bullets and tear gas at those protesters. He said the protesters, agitators, anarchist, Antifa and others were handled very easily.” So the president’s impulse at has been throughout his political career is to play to racial division as a source of political strength. That's why his former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis condemned his approach last week and said it was un-American.
