This is the same New York Post columnist that CNN feels compelled to constantly inflict on their viewers during their idiot panel discussion shows that usually ends up getting her ass handed to her when she spews nonsense on NewsNight or Table for Five.
But this was Fox, so you’re not going to see any fact-checking during segments like this one. Instead, the audience was treated to Fox News Live host Aishah Hasnie spewing as much propaganda for Trump as the guest on her show this Saturday.
Hasnie started things off by pretending that Trump turning the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool into something that resembles a swimming pool while lining his friend’s pockets with no-bid contracts for the work and his ballroom that he didn’t get Congressional approval for are somehow beautifying Washington and wonderful for the city, before allowing her guese Lydia Moynihan to pretend what Trump is doing in any way, shape or form is comparable to Obama’s basketball court.
HASNIE: Take a look at this — a live look at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Maybe you’ve been there, maybe one day you’ll see it in person. Renovations are complete and water is flowing again at this historic site.
It comes as President Trump has announced plans for a new promenade connecting the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River. The president is giving D.C. a big makeover ahead of the Freedom 250 celebrations this summer.
For more, let’s bring in New York Post financial correspondent Lydia Moynihan. Lydia, great to have you. The president has been putting a spotlight on this city because he’s proud of it. You and I have been all over the world and seen capitals of other countries, and that’s exactly what they do. I’m always impressed by Paris, by these great capitals — but for some reason, D.C. gets left to be a dump. Why are Democrats always complaining when the president tries to fix something up?
MOYNIHAN: It’s such a natural instinct for a leader to want a city that reflects its country’s position in the world. And I would remind you — Gavin Newsom did the same thing when Xi Jinping was coming to visit San Francisco. He realized he had to clean the city up because it’s embarrassing to have people arrive and find a city in disrepair.
As you noted, when you travel to Singapore or Copenhagen, we’re all amazed at how clean and wonderful it is. America is the superpower of the world — we should live like it.
One other point: in policing and urban planning, there’s the concept of the broken windows theory — the idea that when you let something fall into disrepair, even something small, it often spirals out of control. The federal presence is doing the heavy lifting on crime, and violent crime is down 50% this year. All of these things go hand in hand. When you show the world — and the country — that you’re invested and want to take care of your property, it has ripple effects we’re already seeing.
HASNIE: I talk to ambassadors in this city all the time, from countries all over the world, and they do notice. They tell me whether they’re impressed or whether they think it’s a joke.
On the ballroom — we’re still watching this appeals court case, and it appears increasingly likely the court will rule against the Trump White House. Here’s one of the judges from yesterday’s hearing. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett asked: “If the government decided very quickly to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty — the first thing the ancestors of many Americans saw coming to this country — but the government moved too fast, nothing can be done?” What do you make of that argument?
MOYNIHAN: First, I’d note that Donald Trump will be leaving office in a couple of years — this isn’t something he’s going to get to enjoy himself.
HASNIE: He’s not even going to get to enjoy it.
MOYNIHAN: It’s not as though he’s funneling money into expanding Mar-a-Lago. This is something that has been needed for quite some time. Obama and Biden staffers complained about it during both of those administrations — it’s embarrassing when a visiting head of state has to use a porta-potty because the ballroom simply isn’t big enough.
This is an investment in the future. Trump has a New York real estate mentality: you move fast, ask for forgiveness rather than permission, because otherwise things just don’t get done.
And presidents throughout every administration have done something similar — Obama with a basketball court, Eisenhower with a complete White House renovation. Every president has a bit of an ego; they want to put their mark on history, and the White House is one way to do that.
This is something people on both sides of the aisle have wanted to see happen for years. But because it’s Donald Trump, it’s being treated as the most controversial story since Watergate.
HASNIE: I’m sure Democratic presidents of the future will enjoy that ballroom very much.
First off, she got the presidents wrong on the renovation. It was Truman, not Eisenhower.
Second, no other president since the 1940’s has done anything remotely resembling what Trump is doing here in both scope and size, so that’s just nonsense.
And Obama, contrary to Trump’s lies about it, “did adapt an outdoor tennis court at the White House to also serve as a basketball court during his administration, adding hoops and lines. This conversion did not require extensive construction.”
Every other past major renovation went through Congress and public review. This one did not, and these two liars know this, but they’d rather attack anyone who is trying to put a stop to Trump’s corruption as having Trump derangement syndrome instead. Shame on both of them.
