Categorized | Uncategorized

CNN Urges Dems Unite Around ‘Very Moderate’ Biden Against ‘Existential Threat’ Trump

Posted on 06 August 2020

On Thursday’s New Day, CNN co-hosts Alisyn Camerota and John Berman brought on longtime Democratic hack Paul Begala and far-left activist Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to spout DNC talking points about Joe Biden and President Trump. The propagandists laughably labeled Biden “very moderate” and urged him to appease "progressives" with his vice presidential pick. Begala began the segment by celebrating the Democratic Party gathering around the allegedly “moderate” Biden to defeat the "existential threat" of Trump:     And I think these -- I -- I watched Mr. Berman's interview with [Democratic Missouri congressional candidate] Ms. [Cori] Bush. She was terrific. She comes from the Bernie [Sanders campaign] -- she was a spokesperson for Bernie. She campaigned for Bernie. So my guess is Joe Biden was her third, fourth, fifth pick. And she's saying, literally, I wrote it down, we cannot live under a Trump administration, truer words never spoken. I'll leave that to the doc, but a lot of people are dying before their time because Donald Trump is president. This is an existential threat for the country, much less for Democrats. I've never seen the party more united. The left is working their hearts out for a very moderate presidential nominee. Joe Biden is no moderate. Biden just created his policy platform with the help of far-left, communism-loving Bernie Sanders. Sanders even said that Biden might be the “most progressive president since FDR.” Among many radical proposals, Biden plans to spend $2 trillion on fighting climate change, transition all Americans to electric cars by 2035, and to raise taxes by $4 trillion. Biden also said that the police have “become the enemy.” He endorses a $15 minimum wage, studying reparations for slavery, providing two years of free college, ending offshore drilling, a buyback program for assault weapons, a national firearm registry, and expanding ObamaCare. He also courted the support of Black Lives Matter. Of course Camerota accept the ridiculous premise of Biden being "very moderate," asking Begala: "Does that mean that Joe Biden should pick a more progressive person among -- among the array of choices?" Begala replied: "No, I don't think people think that way. I think he needs to pick someone who, God forbid, something happens could step in on day one, and, God willing, if nothing bad happens to Joe, could be a good governing partner." El-Sayed joined in on the Trump bashing: And all of us recognize the existential threat to our democracy that Donald Trump is and poses. What we need to see though is the recognition that getting Joe Biden elected isn't the ceiling, it's the floor. And there is so much more that we need to do. I was privileged to take part in the unity task force on health care with -- with Vice President Biden and -- and Senator Sanders. And we knew that our key issue Medicare-for-All, is going to be hard to get. But we were able to pull them on improving and making that public option that Joe Biden ran on far more robust. But we got to keep going. We've got a pandemic raging. People are dying. 150,000 plus people have died of this pandemic. We don't know if our kids are going to be able to go back to school safely. We've got to recognize that just beating Donald Trump and taking us back to where we were, that's not enough. We've got to continue to focus on a vision about how we uplift, rebuild, and reignite our country and get past some of these divisions that Donald Trump has pushed. “All of” media Democrats must “recognize” that they need to lie to help beat Trump. Children rarely spread COVID and are more likely to be struck by lightning than die from the virus. El-Sayed then insanely claimed his young daughter was made to feel unwelcome in America by Trump: Look, I'm Muslim- American. I pray a particular way. One of the first things that Donald Trump tried to do was to bar people who pray the way I pray from coming into this country because of how we pray. I'm raising a two- year-old little girl who's ethnically half Egyptian, half -- half Indian, 100 percent American, and I don't want to know that the person who was president while she was born will have any way of shaping the way she thinks about whether or not she belongs in this country. That's the truth of it. Now, do I think that calling him a racist and continuing to call him what he obviously is. Begala forwarded conspiracy theories about the election: We have never, in all of American history, a quarter of a millennium, had an incumbent president, where reasonable people had right to worry whether he would turn over power if he lost. We should be worried about that. So what does that mean as a strategist? That means the Democrats have to win by so much that he can't steal it. It -- it's not fair. It’s not fair to Joe Biden. You know, usually in -- in American presidential elections, you get to 270 electoral votes, and it's game over. It doesn't matter how far across the goal line you get. CNN has long been openly rooting for the Democratic Party, so much so that there's really no need for them to even bring partisan guests, the hosts could easily spew the left's narrative themselves. This Joe Biden for President commercial was paid for by USAA. Let them know here if you think they should be sponsoring this content. Read the full August 6th transcript here: CNN's New Day 08/06/20 7:30:38 AM ALISYN CAMEROTA: Okay. Joining us now is Paul Begala, CNN Political Commentator, Democratic Strategist and author of the new book, You're Fired: The Guide to Beating Donald Trump. Also joining us, Abdul El-Sayed, CNN Political Commentator. Great to see both of you. So, Paul, we'll get to your book in a second. But first, let's talk about these wins for progressive -- for the progressive candidates in Missouri with Cori Bush, Michigan with Rashida Tlaib. So what do you take from that about the direction of the Democratic Party and does it inform who Joe Biden should pick to be his vice presidential choice? PAUL BEGALA (CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR; DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST): Well, first -- actually, first, great to see you again. CAMEROTA: You too. BEGALA: Thanks for having me back. I missed you. I had two projects during the break, a -- a corona beard and a corona book. You know where the party is going? It's going up. A plane need a right wing and a left wing, and that's how it gets lift and loft. And I think these -- I -- I watched Mr. Berman's interview with Ms. Bush. She was terrific. She comes from the Bernie -- she was a spokesperson for Bernie. She campaigned for Bernie. So my guess is Joe Biden was her third, fourth, fifth pick. And she's saying, literally, I wrote it down, we cannot live under a Trump administration, truer words never spoken. I'll leave that to the doc, but a lot of people are dying before their time because Donald Trump is president. This is an existential threat for the country, much less for Democrats. I've never seen the party more united. The left is working their hearts out for a very moderate presidential nominee. And as somebody from the moderate wing, I got to tell you, I appreciate that. JOHN BERMAN: First Paul -- CAMEROTA: But -- but Paul we have -- very quickly, who do you think that that -- does that mean that Joe Biden should pick a more progressive person among -- among the array of choices? BEGALA: No, I don't think people think that way. I think he needs to pick someone who, God forbid, something happens could step in on day one, and, God willing, if nothing bad happens to Joe, could be a good governing partner. And the party will unite around that person. Joe's had that job as vice president. I -- I don't think anybody should look at this at a strictly ideological basis. We don't live our lives that way. How about somebody who won't screw up a pandemic? How about somebody who won't meet with a doctor who thinks that infections are caused by demon sex? Okay, how about that? That would be an improvement over that guy we got now. BERMAN: I will note, Paul Begala, you just wrote a whole book talking about the fact that demon sex may not be the road you want to go down when campaigning about -- against the President. We'll talk about that in a second. Doctor, to you, as the resident progressive on this panel, you know I -- it was interesting to me that Cori Bush was so quick to say, oh, no, I'm behind Biden, no matter what her disagreements are. She was quicker to say that than, I believe, someone in her position would have been in 2016 with Hillary Clinton. We just didn't see that level of immediacy there. But my question to you is, what do you need from Joe Biden prior to Election Day in order to maintain your strong support? DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED (CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR): There -- there are a couple of things here. First of all, you're right, Cori Bush is an -- an incredible candidate and will make an incredible Congresswoman. And all of us recognize the existential threat to our democracy that Donald Trump is and poses. What we need to see though is the recognition that getting Joe Biden elected isn't the ceiling, it's the floor. And there is so much more that we need to do. I was privileged to take part in the unity task force on health care with -- with Vice President Biden and -- and Senator Sanders. And we knew that our key issue Medicare-for-All, is going to be hard to get. But we were able to pull them on improving and making that public option that Joe Biden ran on far more robust. But we got to keep going. We've got a pandemic raging. People are dying. 150,000 plus people have died of this pandemic. We don't know if our kids are going to be able to go back to school safely. We've got to recognize that just beating Donald Trump and taking us back to where we were, that's not enough. We've got to continue to focus on a vision about how we uplift, rebuild, and reignite our country and get past some of these divisions that Donald Trump has pushed. And that's what we progressives believe in. We know that we've got to beat Donald Trump. We’ve known -- we know we've got to go so much further, as well. CAMEROTA: You speak to that in your new book, Paul, so I'll just read a portion of it about what you are -- one of the things you're very worried about. You say, I am terribly worried that some Democrats will swing from sense to nonsense, trying to answer Trump's division with our division, his vulgarity with our -- our vulgarity, his hate with our hate, his lies with our lies. Therein lies the path to defeat. If we try to out-Trump Trump, we will not only lose the election, we will deserve to. Are you seeing that happen? BEGALA: No. No. They're heeding my warning. Look at what Abdul just said. Look at what Ms. Bush said yesterday to -- to Berman. Democrats are not -- it is human nature to want to respond in kind, okay? That's why I've been worried about it. But if you look at what the progressives are saying, the moderates, the libertarians, the vegetarians, they're all united. So I -- I -- I never want to answer in kind. I really don't. And I maybe I'm speaking as much -- as much for myself because I -- I -- I live by John McCain's old mantra that a fight not joined is a fight not enjoyed. But in this case, we need to keep our eyes on the prize, and I actually think Democrats are doing a terrific job of doing that. BERMAN: It is interesting in this book. And by the way, subtle product placement behind you. I appreciate that. BEGALA: Yeah, yes, I'm Simon & Schuster paid extra for that John. BERMAN: You talk about Democrats not falling into the Trump trap -- BEGALA: Yeah. BERMAN: -- which you admitted you did in 2016, was -- which was to attack then candidate Donald Trump's character. And, Dr. Sayed, it's interesting to me, you say for you, it -- it's hard to look beyond some of these traits, because it's personal for you, Doctor. So are you willing, you know, Paul says it doesn't make any sense for us to sit here and call the President a racist because it doesn't necessarily win votes. Do you feel the same way? EL-SAYED: Well, I'll tell you this. What the President is, is one thing, and how we take on the President is another. BERMAN: Right. EL-SAYED: Look, I'm Muslim- American. I pray a particular way. One of the first things that Donald Trump tried to do was to bar people who pray the way I pray from coming into this country because of how we pray. I'm raising a two- year-old little girl who's ethnically half Egyptian, half -- half Indian, 100 percent American, and I don't want to know that the person who was president while she was born will have any way of shaping the way she thinks about whether or not she belongs in this country. That's the truth of it. Now, do I think that calling him a racist and continuing to call him what he obviously is, what he luxuriates in being is going to win votes? I -- I don't think so. I actually think that we need to be able to reach out into the hearts of -- of people who were duped by this man, who told them that he was -- he alone could fix it. And ask what is it that we really need to do now? Why are you hurting and what do we do about it? I think that's what's going to win us votes. That's what's going to win the future of this country. CAMEROTA: Paul, I want to read one more portion of your book, because it seems like you're Kreskin in this one. BERMAN: He know -- who you know, right? He was like a personal friend of -- BEGALA: My dad grew up with -- with George Kreskin, the Amazing Kreskin. Seriously. BERMAN: Yes. BEGALA: I -- I -- I actually do know him. BERMAN: Sorry, I digress. CAMEROTA: Well, that explains it. That explains this passage in that case. You say, I would not put it past Trump to try to cancel elections themselves. I know that sounds alarmist, but you should be alarmed. Trump has clearly and repeatedly stated his desire to be president for life. He's not joking, folks. He doesn't joke. So I don't know what date you wrote that, but now President Trump is talking about whether or not the election date could be moved. BEGALA: It is. It's a burden, this gift of prophesy that I have. And I hope I carry it with some grace, Alisyn. And I joke about it, but this is real. He is -- Abdul is exactly, right. He's an existential threat to our democracy. We have never, in all of American history, a quarter of a millennium, had an incumbent president, where reasonable people had right to worry whether he would turn over power if he lost. We should be worried about that. So what does that mean as a strategist? That means the Democrats have to win by so much that he can't steal it. It -- it's not fair. It’s not fair to Joe Biden. You know, usually in -- in American presidential elections, you get to 270 electoral votes, and it's game over. It doesn't matter how far across the goal line you get. This time, it does. This is why Joe Biden, and -- and I know he's watching, Joe, you've got to compete, obviously, in Michigan, in Abdul's home state. That's the key swing state, and in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and in Florida, but also in North Carolina, in Georgia, in Arizona, in my beloved Texas. I want Biden to win places where they used to hunt us down with dogs, okay? That's the kind of win that Democrats have to have, because this guy is an autocrat wannabe. He undermines elections, he undermines the free press, he undermines the federal judiciary, anything that's a check on his power. So we've got to fire him. I mean it.