Anderson Cooper's blistering critique of Trump's 'completely pathetic' behavior at El Paso hospital

Patrick Devine
Updated

On Thursday, Anderson Cooper opened AC360 with a blistering critique of President Trump’s ability to make the Dayton and El Paso hospital visits on Wednesday ‘all about him.’ Following Wednesday’s El Paso stop, a local news station tweeted cellphone video of the president boasting to a full hospital room about the crowd size at one of his recent El Paso rallies. To which Anderson said, “I gave the president the benefit of the doubt. Surely I thought when the cameras weren't present he must have properly consoled survivors, praised first responders, praised hospital and surely he wouldn't try to puff himself in front of those heroes. Well, according to a new piece of video today, I was wrong,”

While discussing with David Axelrod, Anderson added, “He’s yammering on about crowd sizes. It’s — I would say unbelievable — but it's completely believable and it's completely pathetic.”

The crowd boasting video was just one of many issues with Trump’s hospital visits. Between stops in Dayton and El Paso, Trump surprised Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown with a few critical tweets. The president also blasted the media’s coverage of his trips. There were also two Trump aids that anonymously claimed the visits “didn't go as planned.” “On a trip so a pair of grieving cities that saw a combined 31 people slaughtered, let's never forget who the real victim is,“ Anderson sarcastically commented.

Anderson’s most scathing critique came when he compared Trump’s inability to rise above politics during this time of national tragedy. With Anderson saying, “it's not how a president should behave. It's just not. It's not how people behave. And it has nothing to do with politics, but everything to do with what presidents in both parties have always known. That at times of national tragedy, the presidency should never be about the person in the white house, it should be about what that person can do for the people he serves.”

Given that this has become par for the course with Trump, Anderson cautioned viewers . “It's starting to seem normal but it's not.”

And over on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Mathew, Trump's former White House Director of Communications, Anthony Scarramucci, called the visits a 'catastrophe' on Hardball with Chris Matthews. And while “The Mooch” questioned the two Trump aides that anonymously criticized the president's trip, he went on record with a similar stance. "He did not do well on the trip because if the trip is being made about him and not the demonstration of compassion and love and caring and empathy for those people, then it becomes a catastrophe for him," aid Scrarramucci.

AC360 airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on CNN.

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