Two days after some controversy arouse from how White House Correspondents’ Association dinner speaker Michelle Wolf tore into Kellyanne Conway and Sara Sanders with vicious personal attacks, the panel on CNN’s New Day identified the proper culprit: President Donald Trump.
“Trump has changed this entire conversation,” rued Brian Stelter before Julie Pace, Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press agreed Wolf took a “cheap shot” at Sanders but, she asserted: “I think that a lot of people have felt the same way when the president has made cracks about people’s looks as well.”
Co-anchor Chris Cuomo echoed: “That’s the irony is that people are complaining, Trump backers, that she went over the line, when he goes over the line all the time and they say nothing to him, say nothing about it.”
Stelter soon proposed: “Maybe it’s a good thing people in that room were uncomfortable.”
From CNN’s New Day on Monday, April 30:
BRIAN STELTER: I do think, as with everything else, Trump has changed this entire conversation. Everything is political now. And even raunchy jokes told at a fun dinner is now political.
CHRIS CUOMO: Right. But it wasn’t fun for Sarah Sanders. We talked about this before on the show with Saturday Night Live.
STELTER: It wasn’t fun for George W. Bush. It wasn’t fun for Barack Obama. He sat there.
....
CUOMO: But I thought that that was a clear line that was passed here with this comedian as she went after Sarah for her looks and she had to sit there and take it. I thought that, you know, that sucked.
JULIE PACE, AP: It’s a cheap shot. And I think that a lot of people have felt the same way when the president has made cracks about people’s looks as well.
CUOMO: Yes. That’s the irony is that people are complaining, Trump backers, that she went over the line, when he goes over the line all the time and they say nothing to him, say nothing about it.
STELTER: That’s why so many viewers are listening to this thinking, wait a second, why do you all care what a young comedian said? The president has changed all these conversations.
CUOMO: She’s joking. He’s actually telling the, he's telling his truth when he says these things.
STELTER: And Wolf's argument is, she wasn't talking about Michelle -- she wasn't talking about Sarah Sanders looks. Michelle Wolf's argument is, I was talking about her, quote, despicable behavior that, you know, everything’s upside down and, frankly, comedy’s supposed to be uncomfortable. Maybe it’s a good thing people in that room were uncomfortable.
>> This video clipped to illustrate Paul Bedard's April 30 Mainstream Media Scream for the Washington Examiner <<