During a CNN "New Day" panel discussion on Mike Pence's Friday speech rebuking Donald Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, followed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie echoing that sentiment, co-host John Berman noted that the former vice president chose his words to achieve a very specific response.
Discussing whether the "tide is turning" against Trump as more Republicans begin to feel free to challenge him, Berman claimed Pence has a good idea what the polls are saying and, by bluntly stating "Trump is wrong," he knew he was creating a soundbite that would spread far and wide.
After sharing video of Pence's comments, Berman offered, "Watching that bite again and again and again, and we have all seen it now dozens of times, Pence grabbed for the sound bite, 'President Trump is wrong,' knowing that will be out there for eternity."
"If they ever do face-off, Mike Pence is saying his boss is wrong and frankly un-American," he added. "And Mike Pence can read polls like the rest of us. To me, again, maybe he's seeing something here, maybe feeling something here?"
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CNN analyst David Gregory responded, "Well, look, that may be right and my argument, at least this morning, is they may be able to stake out this ground, that may be narrower ground, if it got bigger, are they willing to say, 'not only were you wrong, but you were responsible for Jan 6th which was un-American and an attack on our country, saying you are disqualified from ever being the president of the United States again.'"
"We will see if we go to that point," he added.
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