During a dramatically one-sided panel discussion in the 8 a.m. ET hour of CNN’s New Day on Monday, political analyst David Gregory wailed that the firing of FBI Director James Comey was “a crisis the President has created by abusing his power, by creating an atmosphere in which we don’t know who we can trust in the White House...”
The ex-Meet the Press moderator then demanded that Republicans denounce President Trump: “...there’s real questions this week about when and whether Republican leaders are going to stand up to the President, who has got an agenda to try to get passed, and say look your behavior has got to stop, and we have to get things back on track here.”
Co-host Chris Cuomo eagerly seized the chance to proclaim to viewers: “Just to be clear, the reason that there are no Republican leaders on this show this morning is because they didn't want to come on. We do it on a regular basis....Literally went 0-for, there is a manifest intention not to deal with it.”
Instead, the morning show anchor decided to assemble a panel exclusively comprised of liberal pundits, including Gregory, The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein, and Jackie Kucinich, daughter of left-wing Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
Fellow co-host Alisyn Camerota fretted to Brownstein: “Ron, you made the point that if you look back at history, a similar parallel is when Nixon fired Archibald Cox. At that time an outcry from all sides. What's happening now?” Brownstein bemoaned:
It’s a measure of how much politics has changed in the 40-plus years since. After Richard Nixon fired Archibald Cox in 1973 you had Barry Goldwater the immediate predecessor as the Republican presidential nominee condemning him. We have a more polarized politics and the Republican leadership and rank and file for the most part almost entirely on Capitol Hill are basically saying we are part of a common enterprise with President Trump. Most of our voters still support him and therefore they have unwilling to defend the checks and balances that James Clapper talked about.
He then issued a warning to the GOP: “I would say there is still political risk in this, though, because if you look at 2018, I think by far the biggest risk to Republicans is that those voters who are ambivalent at best about Trump will view them as too compliant and not exercising sufficient checks and balances on him...”
Gregory echoed the new CNN party line that Trump and his administration were a “danger to American democracy”:
It’s not just Trump undermining faith in democratic institutions. How about the Attorney General of the United States, who recused himself from anything having to do with the Russia investigation, but then is in an okay position to recommend the firing of Jim Comey, who is leading that investigation? How is that appropriate? How is he escaping scrutiny in all of this?
He then declared that “The news media is doing its job” and implored: “What is the government doing in Congress to run down these leads?”
Brownstein again scolded Republicans for not joining Democrats and the media in piling on Trump:
There’s an affirmative risk of seeming too compliant with a president who on a systematic basis, as we talked about before as James Clapper also alluded to, has been working to de-legitimize and undermine essentially any institution that could check him, whether it is the “Fake news media” or the “So-called judges” or firing Sally Yates while investigating people in his orbit. There is a consistent pattern here...
Thanks to News Analysis intern Alex Xenos for providing the video and transcribing the May 15 segment:
8:05 AM ET
CHRIS CUOMO: We bring in senior political analyst Ron Brownstein, David Gregory, and Jackie Kucinich. David Gregory, most important topic for the day is?
DAVID GREGORY: How both the political class and other leadership, be it judicial or not, are going to respond to what Trump has done, not just the firing of Comey but then the add-on comments and threats he’s made demanding loyalty and all the rest. As we’ve been saying all morning, this is a crisis the President has created by abusing his power, by creating an atmosphere in which we don't know who we can trust in the White House, at a time when there's an investigation going on, there's facts to be gathered, and there's a system to protect, and there's real questions this week about when and whether Republican leaders are going to stand up to the president, who has got an agenda to try to get passed, and say look your behavior has got to stop, and we have to get things back on track here.
CUOMO: Just to be clear, the reason that there are no Republican leaders on this show this morning is because they didn't want to come on. We do it on a regular basis.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Dozens.
CUOMO: Literally went 0-for, there is a manifest intention not to deal with it.
CAMEROTA: Ron, you made the point that if you look back at history, a similar parallel is when Nixon fired Archibald Cox. At that time an outcry from all sides. What's happening now?
RON BROWNSTEIN: It's a measure of how much politics has changed in the 40-plus years since. After Richard Nixon fired Archibald cox in 1973 you had Barry Goldwater the immediate predecessor as the Republican presidential nominee condemning him. We have a more polarized politics and the Republican leadership and rank and file for the most part almost entirely on capitol hill are basically saying we are part of a common enterprise with president Trump. Most of our voters still support him and therefore they have unwilling to defend the checks and balances that James Clapper talked about. I would say there is still political risk in this, though, because if you look at 2018, I think by far the biggest risk to Republicans is that those voters who are ambivalent at best about trump will view them as too compliant and not exercising sufficient checks and balances on him, and so this course, which they believe is safe for now, ultimately I think could be riskier if they are seen as not providing meaningful oversight.
CUOMO: It's easier in Watergate, that was a real crime. This was a legislative endowed and created prosecutor. You don't have that here. Comey was not popular with Democrats. The president is clearly within his authority to get rid of him. So you don't have the kind of need for bold leadership that you did back then as a GOP guy coming out or man or woman, but they're not doing it. McConnell supposedly said he's okay with Garland coming out but we haven't heard anything –
KUCINICH: Of course he is.
CUOMO: Other than saying let him defend his tweets. Is there any price that could be paid for this or is playing it safe the best course if you want to stay in Washington?
KUCINICH: Here's where the price could take a toll. This is a distraction. They're not able to talk about the things they want to talk about. I had a GOP aide call me over the weekend, livid, because in the senate they're trying to work through health care right now. They're trying to put all of that together, and right now, they're being forced to talk about Comey and to use resources to deal with that, be doing on their agenda, on things like tax reform. So because of that because they are being forced, being asked questions and forced to talk about Comey, you saw people asking about it at town halls, over this last recess, so because of that, that I think is going to have a more lasting effect on the Republican party as a whole, as you go into midterm. Based on what we have now, you know, the facts that we have now.
CUOMO: A lot can change.
KUCINICH: A lot can change. But it seems like their agenda doesn't become executed, that's going to hold a lot more weight with voters, why they sent them to Washington.
GREGORY: But think how craven this all is. My favorite game is insert Hillary Clinton into this scenario.
KUCINICH: Fun game.
GREGORY: If it's president Clinton firing –
CUOMO: Better than Parcheesi?
GREGORY: It's ridiculous. The fact they'd go after her as we've seen them go after her over Benghazi, things like this, it would be an unbelievable display here in Washington, and now all of a sudden they're silent, because there's other aspects of this. It's not just Trump undermining faith in democratic institutions. How about the Attorney General of the United States who recused himself from anything having to do with the Russia investigation, but then is in an okay position to recommend the firing of Jim Comey, who is leading that investigation?
How is that appropriate? How is he escaping scrutiny in all of this? Who asked Rosenstein, the Deputy A.G., to separately investigate and look for reasons to fire Comey when there was an inspector general of the Department of Justice already doing that? Who is asking those questions in government? The news media is doing its job. What is the government doing in Congress to run down these leads? Aside from the fact that the president's threatening the FBI director over Twitter, and demanding loyalty of him, as if that's not outrageous enough, there's other stuff to oversee here.
CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Ron.
BROWNSTEIN: That's why I think it's more than an opportunity for Republicans in terms of agenda. There's an affirmative risk of seeming too compliant with a president who on a systematic basis, as we talked about before as James Clapper also alluded to, has been working to de-legitimize and undermine essentially any institution that could check him, whether it is the "Fake news media" or the "So-called judges" or firing Sally Yates while investigating people in his orbit. There is a consistent pattern here, and what you have, if you look at the polling, yes, the floor has not fallen out for President Trump but he remains the ceiling is lower than it has been for any new president and I think for Republicans in swing districts at some point, they have to ask, is there, is the risk of some rebellion from the base if they criticize him greater than the risk of seeming too willing to look past any potential conflicts in the eyes of swing voters and that is a real risk in a lot of districts in America in 2018.
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