North Korea
The View’s Joy Behar did a masterful job of revealing her political ignorance when she grilled co-host Meghan McCain on why Republicans still support President Donald Trump, given his “treasonous behavior.” Behar was referring to Trump's friendly relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his taking Kim at his word when Kim denied any responsibility for the imprisonment and torture of University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, who died in 2017.
One word perfectly sums up the tone of the conversation on Sunday’s edition of Reliable Sources: hyperbolic. Throughout the hour, CNN White House Correspondent Jim Acosta effectively compared President Trump to Kim Jong-un while host Brian Stelter suggested to a New York Times White House correspondent that rather than covering a White House beat, she was covering a “criminal beat.”
Ahhhh memories. Here at CPAC this week, the stories abound about President Donald Trump walking away from the Hanoi Summit. Here are a few of the headlines. From the Los Angeles Times: “Art of the retreat: Summit failure further scuffs Trump's dealmaker claims.” From USA Today: “Donald Trump's big fail on North Korea: He didn't prepare and he got played.” From Newsweek: “Has Trump Failed in North Korea? Pyongyang Says it Will Not Give up Nukes Without U.S. Demilitarization.”
New York Times reporter Michael Shear analyzed Donald Trump’s supposed admiration for strongmen, turning President Reagan’s admonition on its head against Trump: “For President, It’s Just ‘Trust,’ No ‘Verify.” Many conservatives have criticized Trump for his credulous remarks on what North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un knew about the treatment of American prisoner Otto Warmbier. But it’s a bit rich to hear the Times accusing someone else of embracing “strongmen," as Shear does: "...in more than two years in the Oval Office, the president has demonstrated an unmistakable pattern: He tends to believe what strongmen say."
With President Trump on his way back home after the failed denuclearization negotiations with North Korea, Thursday’s edition of ABC’s World News Tonight decided to take some swings at the President for not getting a deal. It was a head-scratching complaint since many in the liberal media spent the last few days clutching their pearls in fear of Trump giving away too much because of flattery.
Less than an hour before Michael Cohen was set to begin his testimony on Capitol Hill, the panel on CNN Newsroom appeared extremely worried that President Trump would make a bad deal with North Korea just to distract from the Cohen testimony. Leading the charge was “objective” CNN National Security Analyst and CNN Newsroom co-host Jim Sciutto, who worked in the Obama administration as a senior adviser to the United States Ambassador to China.
On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and David Ignatius praised President Trump's decision to walk away from the Hanoi summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Scarborough calls it the "best of all circumstances." Ignatius agreed, quoting Trump that "sometimes you just have to walk." Also, Joyce Vance a former US Attorney appointed by President Obama says that in Michael Cohen's congressional testimony, there was "certainly nothing that was new to prosecutors." And finally, some unintentional humor, as Donny Deutsch describes himself as a "stench" defender of Cohen.
An hour after he trumpeted Thursday’s abrupt end of the second U.S.-North Korea summit, CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta appeared in need of a safe space following President Trump’s Hanoi press conference. Acosta wasn’t called on, so he aired his grievances on CNN while falsely suggesting the President had “steered clear largely” of the White House press corps.
Early Thursday morning in the United States, CNN gloated about the abrupt end of the Hanoi, Vietnam summit between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un with a potpourri of liberal bloviating. Such hot takes ranged from taunting Trump as a failure on North Korea, not understanding that the presidency isn’t like The Apprentice, suggested the Michael Cohen hearing hurt talks, and wondered how much longer Trump will be in office.
For all the liberal media’s prior pontifications about Wednesday being a “split screen” between two major events for President Trump, the congressional testimony of his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and the denuclearization summit with North Korea, they were sure to only give the latter just a few pixels.
Despite Michael Cohen’s shady history and federal conviction for lying to Congress, the liberal broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) hung on his every word following Wednesday’s hearing before the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee. While glowing about his “dramatic public reversal” and “deeply personal takedown of a sitting president” (as NBC reporter Kate Snow did) they all chided Republican members of the committee for reminding viewers of his impending jail time.
Broadcasting live from Hanoi, Vietnam for the second U.S./North Korea summit on denuclearization, NBC kicked off Tuesday’s Nightly News with a report giving a rundown of the current state of the negotiations after last year’s historic summit. But towards the end of that report, which was delivered by anchor Lester Holt, he shared concerns from “critics” who feared Kim Jong-un would “flatter” his way to major concessions from President Trump with little in return.