Trump likely to scrap racial unity speech as White House struggles to fix 'self-inflicted wounds': NYT reporter

On CNN Wednesday, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said it was unlikely President Donald Trump would move forward with his planned speech on racial unity, reportedly being written by White House adviser Stephen Miller, in the wake of criticism over his rhetoric around George Floyd's death and his refusal to rename military bases named for Confederate officers.

"These are all self-inflicted wounds. These are all errors of his own making," said Haberman. "Whether they end up mattering in the fall, we don't know. But you look at the current polling across the board, it is hurting him right now."

"There seems to be some debate over at the White House, Maggie, over whether the president will in fact address this moment with the speech on race and unity," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "What are you hearing about his advisers? What are they recommending? They can recommend anything they want, but in the end the president has to make the final decision."

"Right. That is the issue, Wolf," said Haberman. "Sometimes advisers float these ideas to see how much blowback it gets and how the president himself will react. The president has not wanted to give a speech. That doesn't mean he definitely won't, but he has not wanted to. He also has not wanted to do listening sessions with Black leaders outside of his own supporters or people coming to the White House."

"I don't think he is going to do a speech," said Haberman. "The speech advisers are concerned about him giving right now is the one he is expected to give at the West Point graduation on Saturday. He has a tendency to be off script. They are concerned he will do that there and it could be problematic."

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