-Republicans and right wing pundits
who support Donald Trump have spent the last few days
pretending to be outraged over a hot mic moment
in which President Biden insulted a Fox News reporter.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
Today, we're going to discuss Republican reactions to Biden
calling a Fox News reporter a stupid S.O.B. on a hot mic
because I'm willing to bet anything that's going to be
the biggest story in politics for the foreseeable future.
-This is a CBS News Special Report
I'm Major Garrett in Washington.
There is breaking news from the Supreme Court.
CBS News has learned Justice Stephen Breyer plans
to retire at the end of this term in June.
-Oh, Seth, you stupid son of a bitch.
Pulled a Biden on myself. Well, at least it works as a segue.
News of Justice Breyer's retirement
broke just a few hours before this taping,
so I'll have more to say about it tomorrow.
But this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer said Democrats would confirm a successor
with all deliberate speed.
And I can understand why you'd want to have someone in place
before Republicans win back Congress
because as GOP reaction to Biden's hot mic moment
has once again proved, in order to be
a Trump supporter, you have to lobotomize
the part of your brain responsible for shame.
That's why Rudy Giuliani always looks like
he just woke up midbrain surgery.
Is this a still from the new "Matrix" movie?
[ Laughter ]
[ As Giuliani ] I took the red pill and the blue pill,
and I got to say, still nothing happening downstairs.
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] By the way, we've used that picture
so many times it's gotten a little dusty, hold on.
And that's it. Not even February.
It's our entire special effects budget for the year.
For example, here's Trump's son,
Eric, on Fox News last night claiming Trump worked harder
than the current administration. -These people aren't present,
they're not fighting for this country.
You know the difference between them and my father.
My father sat there 24 hours a day
and fought for the United States' best interests.
-Well, the "sat there" part of your sentence
was the only part that was true.
Trump definitely sat there. He was the king of sitting.
He always had that posture like a retired major league catcher
whose body just froze like that.
He did that upside down diamond thing with his hands
like Bizarro World Jay-Z.
Trump's political superpower was his lack of shame.
There was no crime he wouldn't commit.
No lie, he wouldn't tell,
no matter how obvious or brazen it was.
Trump would have walked out of the White House
with the bust of Abraham Lincoln sticking out of his coat pocket,
if he thought he'd get away with it,
Which he might've been able to do since his coat looked like
it was specifically made to hide marble busts.
What was that conversation like with his tailor?
[ Italian accent ] Look at these beautiful lines, we can put a Lincoln right here
a Washington right here, no one will know.
[ As Trump ] You've done it again, Giuseppe.
You've done it again.
[ Normal voice ] And in order to support him,
Trump's backers had to find ways to convince us that they
didn't know he was the con man he obviously was.
Like the way Republican lawmakers
would always have conveniently not read his tweets.
Or the way they kept insisting he learned his lessons.
They said this man learned his lesson.
He didn't even learn not to hit the tweet button.
If there was a red dotted line under a word.
He would just say, "I'm pretty sure "tap" does have two P's.
And on this Twitter, we're just going to have
to agree to disagree."
I mean, forget Donald Trump.
In the history of this nation, no rich white man,
in his '70s, has ever learned his lesson.
The only thing rich white men learn is salsa dancing,
and that's only if their third wife insists on it.
[ Laughter ]
So in order to say something as naive
as "Trump learned his lesson,"
you have to have numbed the part of your brain
that cares if people think you look stupid,
that's clearly what's going on in the latest fake controversy
surrounding Biden's outburst
that Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy,
which I'm sure you've all seen by now.
But here it is anyway, just for us all to enjoy one more time.
[ Laughter ]
Yeah.
Biden was muttering to himself like he just got cut off
on the interstate in his stingray,
[ As Biden ] "Look at his stupid son of a bitch.
No, go ahead and merge.
Definitely don't signal or check your mirrors.
You're the only person in the whole damn world,
baby on board. Good luck. Growing up, normal kid."
[ Normal voice ] Now Biden's 79, okay?
Have you guys ever seen two old guys greet each other?
"Hey, look at his old son of a bitch."
"Hey, Bert, you [Bleep] I see you're still ugly as sin."
It's honestly pretty sweet, but word of warning
you can jump in on that if you're under 60,
they don't like that. "Hey, grandpa, you old bastard."
"What the hell did you say to me, you little turd?!"
And look, ideally, the president would not lob insults
at anyone, including reporters.
But if we're being honest, you know?
It was kind of a stupid question.
I mean, really,
does Biden think inflation is a political liability?
What's he supposed to say? "No. No.
I think it's good that gas and ground beef are more expensive.
I'm going to cruise to reelection
on the strength of Subway's $6 foot long."
Anyway, all in all, I do have to say both Doocy and Biden
have handled this incident well.
Doocy laughed it off, said he wasn't owed an apology,
and Biden called him to tell him,
"It's nothing personal, pal," which does strike me
as kind of a non-apology apology.
You called him a stupid son of a bitch.
If it wasn't personal, then what was it, business?
[ Laughter ]
That's how we seal the deal in Scranton.
You agree to the term shake hands,
look each other in the eye and say,
"You stupid son of a bitch."
[ Laughter ]
But let's just get the false equivalency out of the way.
No, this isn't even remotely like Trump,
who repeatedly whipped his crazed fans
into a frenzy by hurling insults at reporters
and calling them the enemy of the people.
Calling one person an S.O.B. and then apologizing for it
is not the same as unrepentantly hurling
a constant stream of verbal abuse of reporters
and threatening to punish or imprison them
or change the laws to target them.
I could give countless examples of this,
but here's just one random one I happen to like.
When Trump called a reporter a criminal in 2020
for not reporting on his deranged conspiracy
theories about the Biden family during the election.
-He is a criminal. He's a criminal.
He got caught. Read his laptop.
And you know who's a criminal?
You're a criminal for not reporting it.
You are a criminal for not reporting it.
Let me tell you something.
Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal
for a long time and you're a criminal
and the media for not reporting it.
Good luck. Everybody have a good time.
Now, you can't tell them to have a good time
after you call them criminals. The only way that works
is you're at the Legion of Doom Christmas party.
[ As Lex Luthor ] This is the largest gathering of criminals,
lowlife, and evil villains the world has ever known.
Have a good time.
Don't forget to put your Secret Santa gifts
on the table by the alligator pit.
[ Normal voice ] That was always Trump's way of
just erasing everything he said right before it.
"Have a good time."
Like he'd be in the middle of a terrifying rant
where he threatens nuclear annihilation with North Korea.
And then he'd wrap it up by saying,
"So, if we have to burn this guy and turn the world to ash,
I will summon God's vengeance and rain blood
down upon my enemies.
But for now, you have a good time."
You know, because he'd be in the middle of a wedding toast
at Mar-a-Lago.
You may now kiss the bride, before she's a pile of ash.
So Trump's record on this is obvious
to anyone who's been awake for the last few years.
And yet there still some Republicans
who think we were all born within the last 12 months
and have no memory of what Trump was like as president.
For example, Indiana Congressman Jim Banks
tweeted in total sincerity, not as a joke.
"Have we ever seen a president attack and malign
the free press like Joe Biden has?"
Only one or two things can be happening here,
either he's trolling us
because Trump's record of antagonism toward the press
is so obvious that he knows a comment
like that will drive the rest of us insane.
Or he's got some sort of Benjamin Button disease
where he looks like a middle aged man,
but was actually born like a few months ago
and legitimately doesn't know who Donald Trump is.
And if that's the case, good on him.
I mean, if congressman Banks really is a baby
who looks like a full grown man who am I to [Bleep] all over him
for being dumb as a bag of rocks?
I have a baby at home. She didn't do anything.
But this baby is out here not letting
Benjamin Button disease slow him down,
serving his constituents.
Go to work every day with people who all
have faces that are terrifying to babies.
He's going to talk to these people,
and I burst into tears, probably as a full diaper half the day.
So again, if Congressman Banks is a Benjamin Button situation,
and that's why he doesn't remember how Donald Trump
treated the press, I apologize.
But you know, if he is just a regular 42-year-old man,
you know, shut the [Bleep] up.
But that was somehow not, that was somehow not
the most disingenuous reaction
from a Republican member of Congress.
There was also Ronny Jackson,
Trump's former doctor, who claimed in 2018,
that Trump aced the cognitive test.
Jackson said on Fox News yesterday
that Biden's hot mic moment was a sign of cognitive decline.
-It's completely unprofessional. It's embarrassing.
And I've seen this multiple times
with people at the president's age
that are starting to have cognitive issues.
They get short tempered, they get irritable, they strike out.
It's a defense mechanism to some extent when they don't know
exactly how to answer questions or what's going on around them.
He's got cognitive issues. He's not fit to be our head --
head of state or our commander in chief.
-Now, yes, he's a doctor, but remember,
he's a doctor whose name is Ronny.
Now, do you have your medical degree?
You sure you don't want to change it to Ronald?
"Nah, nah. I want people to know what they're getting
when they walk in the door.
[ Light laughter ]
Dr. Ronny.
[ Normal voice ] But let me see if I follow -- short temper, irritable,
striking out as a defense mechanism
when they don't know how to answer questions
doesn't know what's going on around them.
I just wish there was an example of someone prominent
with those symptoms who we could compare him to.
It's just stumping me. I mean, for the life of me,
I can't think of anyone who's ever exhibited
these specific personality traits before.
I mean, certainly not someone in the public eye,
someone we all remember,
you know, a businessman or elected official,
perhaps someone who served in a high profile position within,
I don't know, let's say, the last 13 months,
if only that person existed?
Well, I guess we'll never know.
This is one of those seemingly trivial moments
that actually reveals something fundamental
at the heart of modern Republican politics.
In order to be a successful Republican today,
you simply have to have no shame,
which is why it's understandable the Democrats want to move
as quickly as possible to confirm a successor
for Justice Breyer before Republicans
have a chance to win back the Senate in November
because if Mitch McConnell and the GOP get their way,
they'll hold this seat hostage until a Republican president
can appoint someone they like someone who's a --
-Short tempered, irritable. -Stupid son of a bitch.
This has been "A Closer Look."
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