No sooner had President Trump concluded his 4th of July remarks was CNN trashing them.
A panel discussion immediately following Trump’s Independence Day remarks mocked the speech as the product of an “eighth grade history” that was too focused on the U.S. military.
CNN’s John Kirby twice likened Trump’s remarks “eighth grade history,” and his colleague, Ryan Lizza, likewise said the speech was “a schoolhouse rock version of history or a seventh or 8th grade research report.”
“Sometimes it seems he is reading a Wikipedia page about historical events; on this date this happened,” Lizza complained.
CNN’s Phil Mudd said flatly: “I hated it.”
“Let me be subtle here, at a professional level 25 years in national security, I hated it,” Mudd said. “At a personal level, I hated it more.”
“Wen we are in the midst of July 4th after 9/11 at the CIA, I thought we were celebrating the defense of ideals, the right to live free and fair,” Mudd continued. “The right to live according to the documents that our Founding Fathers established, the right to — of every person every citizen in the country to pretend like they can be president, the right to have economic opportunity. I didn’t realize we were fighting the chance to pay for guns, for weapons.”
The panel also said the rally resembled a Trump rally after a “USA!” chant broke out.
CNN’s Kate Bennett said the “USA” chant was “symbolic” of a Trump rally, and an indication that Trump had gone off script.
CNN’s Brianna Keilar said Trump “swerved away” from the purpose of the 4th of July to instead “move into something very popular, which is the military.”
Her colleague, John Kirby, said the 4th of July is “totally the wrong holiday” to celebrate the U.S. military. Kirby said Trump had originally sought to have a military flyover on Veterans Day, but instead “shoe-horned” it into a 4th of July celebration.
“He shoe-horned it on the 4th of July,” Kirby said. “He leapfrogged it ahead into July because he couldn’t do it last November. It was always in his mind after seeing Bastille Day in 2017 to do a big military display, and he was just looking for a day to do it. It ended up on the 4th of July which I think is totally the wrong holiday for it.”