Howling at 31-year-old Muslim comedian Hassan Minhaj’s blistering attacks on 70-year-old President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents dinner, former Nixon Speechwriter, Reagan Communication Director and now CNN commentator 74-year-old David Gergen showed why he’s ready for retirement. “To bring your campaign speech into the presidency is something presidents rarely do,” Gergen told the CNN audience, referring to Trump’s speech to a Harrisburg audience, skipping the correspondents’ dinner. Gergen’s too blinded by his own hatred of Trump to see the utter hypocrisy of yucking-it-up at Trump’s expense, while criticizing the president for thanking Pennsylvania voters for backing him Nov. 8, 2016. “This was the most divisive speech I’ve ever heard from a sitting American president,” Gergen said ignoring the press’s toxic atmosphere toward Trump.
Since Trump beat former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the press has followed the campaign’s talking points that Trump couldn’t have won the election without colluding with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gergen knows the accusations are right out of the Hillary playbook. Covering hearings in the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, partisan Democrats, backed by the press, focused only on the wild speculation that Trump colluded with the Russia to win the presidency. Gergen says nothing about the media’s toxic bias against Trump, accusing the president of delivering a “divisive” speech. When Minhaj rails against Trump as a xenophobic racist, Gergen only laughs, delighting in attacks, not seeing the extreme hypocrisy of calling out Trump for speaking to his base. Trump’s speech was his personal rejoinder on his first 100 days in office.
When CNN CEO Jeff Zucker admitted that CNN had gone too far to the left in their attacks against Trump last June, Gergen said nothing in his role as CNN commentator for the most anti-Trump network on the airwaves. CNN’s coverage during the 2016 campaign earned the dubious distinction of Clinton News Network [CNN]. Gergen hides behind an otherwise distinguished career as Nixon speechwriter, Reagan Communication Director, White House counselor to former President Bill Clinton and Harvard Government professor. Whatever morphed Gergen from conservative Republican to liberal activist is anyone’s guess. What’s clear is that he has none of the nonpartisan judgment that earned him the respect of liberals and conservatives on both sides of the political aisle. Howling at Minhaj’s blistering attack on Trump shows how low Gergen has gone.
When you consider the mainstream media’s unequivocal bias toward Trump, it’s no wonder that Trump speaks to his base on Twitter and through campaign-style rallies. Press coverage against Trump is almost universally negative, with the exception of the Fox News Network, the only voice against the rest of the mainstream media. If Gergen were at all objective, he’d raise the issue of CNN extreme bias against Trump, helping the audience understand the president’s attempt to bypass the anti-Trump media. When you consider what’s happened in the first 100 days, it’s actually a flurry of executive orders, foreign and domestic policy initiatives, attempting to deliver on Trump’s many campaign promises. All CNN and the press reports are on Trump’s failure to repeal-and-replace Obamacare. If there’s been any restraint from the press, it’s been on Trump’s April 4 Cruise missile attack on Syria.
Trump skipped the White House Correspondents’ dinner due to the toxic attitude toward his presidency. Mainstream press prefer to report on wild speculation about former Trump associates, like Carter Page or former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. In both cases, there’s zero evidence that either one of them colluded with the Kremlin to help Trump win the 2016 election. Yet the focus of press reports is on unfounded allegations connected with an FBI investigation based on specious Hillary opposition research paid to former MI6 hack Michael Steele. Handed to Sen. John McCain (R-Az) by Hillary campaign Chairman John D. Podesta, McCain, a Trump-hater, turned the dossier over to FBI Director James Comey. Democrats and the liberal press put their high hopes into political garbage. Gergen mentions nothing of the outrageous media attacks on a sitting president.
After howling at Minhaj’s distasteful attacks on Trump, Gergen plays to CNN’s anti-Trump audience. “He played to his base and he treated his other listeners, the rest of the people who have been disturbed about him or oppose him, he treated them basically as ’I don’t care, I don’t give a damn what you think, because you’re frankly like the enemy,’” Gergen rambled almost incoherently. If Gergen and CNN aren’t playing to their “base” than who is? “I think it was a deeply disturbing speech,” said Gergen, showing that whatever objectivity he once had has all but vanished. CNN likes to partner and quote anyone who’s willing to rip Trump, especially someone like Gergen who rides on his long-lost credibility. What’s most disturbing is not Trump’s speech but the universal condemnation coming from Democrats and the mainstream media. Gergen’s too over-the-hill to see this.
