CNN host Alisyn Camerota pointed to several successes of President Donald Trump's on Friday, only for her guest, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), to either largely dismiss the achievements or give the credit to former President Barack Obama.
"We just threw together this sort of ad hoc list of what the president's successes have been since he took office," Camerota said. "So, it's by no means complete and you might quibble with some of them, but let me just lay them out for you: North Korea is in decline, okay, the economic sanctions are working, the ISIS caliphate gone, strong relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia is now trying to modernize, very strong economy at home, obviously, look at what's happening with the jobless numbers that will be out this morning and the stock market, lowest corporate tax rate ever. And people on both sides said that they wanted to bring the corporate tax rate down."
"So why, from where you sit, I don't hear Democrats often giving the president credit for this," Camerota said. "What gets in your way of giving him credit for some of these things?"
Blumenthal brushed off the successes, responding with a list of his own focused on issues he still wants to see addressed.
"There remain severe economic problems and challenges that we need to surmount. The problem of gun violence in our society remains without real action, our health care system needs to be improved so that people have access to real quality medical care and treatment," Blumenthal said.
"Yeah, things aren't perfect, of course, but do you give him credit for those things that I just outlined?" Camerota said.
The Connecticut Democrat acknowledged Trump might be warranted "partial credit" for some achievements but argued much of the credit should go to Obama.
"I will give him partial credit for some of them. The economy, for example, is, with all due respect, the result of policies begun and sustained by President Obama, and he is enjoying a lot of credit for it," Blumenthal said.