Thread: Cavuto to Trump: How Can You Drain The Swamp If You're The One Muddying The Waters?

Cavuto to Trump: How Can You Drain The Swamp If You're The One Muddying The Waters?

Posted By Ian Schwartz
On Date May 3, 2018


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Neil Cavuto asked President Trump how he can "drain the swamp" if he keeps "muddying the waters" in a monologue delivered on the Thursday broadcast of his FOX News show.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS: President Trump is fond of calling out the media on fake news.

But is he the one giving them very real ammunition?

Maybe not intentionally. I'll even give you the benefit of the doubt, Mr. President, and say, maybe not deliberately.

But consistently. Way too consistently.


Let me be real clear, Mr. President. How can you drain the swamp if you're the one who keeps muddying the waters?

You didn't know about that 130,000-dollar payment to a porn star, until you did.


Said you knew nothing about how your former lawyer Michael Cohen handled this, until acknowledging today you were the guy behind the retainer payment that took care of this.


You insist that money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no role in this transaction.

Of that you're sure.


Thing is, not even 24 hours ago, you couldn't recall any of this, and you seemed very sure.

I'm not saying you're a liar, I'm just having a devil of a time figuring out which news is fake.

Let's just say your own words on lots of stuff give me, shall I say, lots of pause.


Like the time you said the Russians didn't interfere in the 2016 election, until a lot of Republicans had to remind you, they did.


Came back months later and said you never said Russia didn't meddle in the election, when in fact, you had, a lot.

None of this makes me a never-Trumper, just always confused.


Like when you claimed your tax plan was the biggest in U.S. history, when it wasn't.


Or that the bill you signed to make it happen would cost you a fortune, when it turns out it's going to help make you a bigger fortune.


Or that your job approval numbers aren't really that bad relative to other presidents at this stage, when they're actually worse than most presidents at this stage.


That can change. But what's weird is this pattern does not.


Like the time you said rumors of Rex Tillerson's departure at the State Department were false, until they weren't.

Or that your former chief of staff Reince Preibus wasn't going anywhere, until he was.

Or your economic adviser Gary Cohn was doing a great job, until he wasn't.

When you absolutely loved Steve Bannon, until you didn't.

Swore by Jeff Sessions until you started swearing at Jeff Sessions.

Had your legal team locked in place, until it wasn't.

Denied reports you were ever thinking about firing Robert Mueller,

Even as you threaten getting involved at the Department of Justice.

None of this makes you evil. But I'm sure you can understand why even your friends say these inconsistencies don't make you look good.


Or do anything to help advance your policies, many of which are very good. Or the prospects for peace with North Korea, remarkably good.


All this stuff you blurt out? Remarkably bad, and remarkably bad timing.

It's not that these exaggerations and omissions and misstatements are now-and-then, more like now-and-then something else. Always something else.


Like the time you claimed you signed more bills than any president ever, neglecting to mention the four other presidents: FDR, Truman, Carter and Clinton, who all signed more.


Or bragged about the national debt going down by 12 billion dollars after your first month in office, even though it's soared by nearly a trillion bucks, now that you're 15 months in office.


But it's not what you're omitting, Mr. President, it's what you keep stating. And never correcting.

Like when you said there was serious voter fraud in New Hampshire, and there wasn't.

Said the same about repeated claims of voter fraud in Virginia, and there weren't.

Or that millions of illegals voted in the last election, but they didn't.

Or the time you talked up your massive landslide in the Electoral College, even though three out of four presidents before you had bigger electoral vote landslides in their elections.


Again, none of this makes what you say fake. Just calling out the press for being so, is a bit of a stretch.

You're right to say some of them are out to get you.

But oftentimes they're using your own words to bash you.

Your base might not care, but you should.

I guess you've been too busy draining the swamp to ever stop and smell the stink you're creating.

That's your doing. That's your stink.

Mister President, that's your swamp.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/vi...he_waters.html

Neil Cavuto: You Sit On A Throne Of Lies, Mr. President

ALLAHPUNDITPosted at 11:21 am on May 4, 2018




Lotta excited chirps about this from Trump critics today.

Rob Reiner
✔@robreiner

Spent last night flipping back and forth between MSNBC & the alternative facts world of Fox and thought there’s no hope. Then after listening to Neil Cavuto, I thought, like the rose in Spanish Harlem, the truth just might be pushing up through the concrete.
7:03 AM - May 4, 2018

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Even a Fox News host who’s unleashed has to be a *little* careful about how he addresses Trump, though. At one point here Cavuto says, “Now, I’m not saying you’re a liar — you’re president, you’re busy — I’m just having a devil of a time figuring out which news is ‘fake.'” Spoiler: He is, in fact, saying that Trump is a liar. A big one.

What makes this extra interesting is the fact that another influential news outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch, the Wall Street Journal, also let Trump have it in an editorial last night. Headline: “The Stormy Daniels Damage: Does Trump want Americans to believe him in a genuine crisis?”

Mr. Trump’s public deceptions are surely relevant to his job as President, and the attempted cover-up has done greater harm than any affair would have. Mr. Trump asked Americans, not least his supporters, to believe his claims about the payments. They were false and conveniently so in putting the onus on Mr. Cohen. Now, as more of the story has emerged, he wants everyone to believe a new story that he could have told the first time.

Mr. Trump is compiling a record that increases the likelihood that few will believe him during a genuine crisis—say, a dispute over speaking with special counsel Robert Mueller or a nuclear showdown with Kim Jong Un. Mr. Trump should worry that Americans will stop believing anything he says.

Are there any Americans left who are persuadable on whether to believe the things Trump says? The hashtag-Resistance thinks every word he says is a lie, including “and” and “the.” MAGA Nation simply doesn’t care and nothing will change that. There are millions of people between those two poles, granted, but I don’t think they lie on a spectrum of credulity. Everyone understands that he lies opportunistically all the time. I think the spectrum has to do with how much the lying bothers them — that is, whether he’s delivering enough on policy to make them indifferent to it. If the economy cruises along and he pulls off a peace deal in North Korea, who cares that he lied about paying off his porn-star girlfriend? If the economy tanks, then people will “care” — not because they honestly care but because they’ll be annoyed at him for the economic downturn and suddenly willing to entertain all manner of lesser grievances to feed that annoyance.

I don’t think the Murdoch outlets are coordinating their message either. Cavuto and the Journal probably dinged him on the same day for no better reason than that they’re exasperated at the sheer transparency of the BS being pushed by Giuliani in the past 24 hours. If you’re going to lie nonstop, at least come up with something better than “Trump reimbursed Cohen but had no idea what he was reimbursing him for.” Good lord. Republicans who aren’t hardcore Trump fans are willing to roll with the lies, but don’t insult their intelligence.

By the way, does no one else remember that Cavuto uncorked a similar rant at POTUS last summer? Every year or so he unburdens himself on air, like a ritual cleansing. I think it’s good for Fox to have the daytime hosts do this sort of thing too, as it gives them something to point to when they’re accused of being “state media” or a Trump propaganda outlet. You’ll never hear this rant in primetime or on “Fox & Friends” but occasionally you’ll hear it at 4 p.m. or on Shep’s show. Check the box on keeping POTUS honest during the daylight hours and then you can go full MAGA in the evening, when the big audiences show up.

https://hotair.com/archives/2018/05/04/neil-cavuto-sit-throne-lies-mr-president/?utm_source=hadaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign= nl