Article by Curtis Houck in mrcNewsBusters
Networks: Trump Is ‘Bulldozing...American Democracy’ with ‘Stunning Words’ on Election
On Thursday night, the broadcast network newscasts showed no interest in the refusal of Democrats to accept the results of November’s presidential election (whatever they may be) and instead decided to meltdown over President Trump’s response to a question from carnival barker Brian Karem expressing doubt about the upcoming election and a flood of mail-in ballots.
Despite White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s repeated assertions that Trump will accept the results of a “free and fair election,” ABC, CBS, and NBC went ballistic over Trump’s “stunning” and “unprecedented attack on America’s election” that serve as a “bulldozing one of the fundamental principles of American democracy.”
Our friends at National Review said it best in writing that, despite the hyperventilating and any required parsing of Trump’s words (and his refusal to simply say, “yes”): “There is, in fact, no chance that this president — or any president — will successfully remain in the White House having lost an election.”
While they correctly stated they’re “not worried” he’ll refuse relinquishing power because our system of government is delineated in the Constitution, the fear-mongering networks don’t have that same affinity (aside from the freedom of the press clause).
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt came across as if Brian Stelter wrote his script, warning in a tease of “Trump's unprecedented attack on America’s election....casting doubt on the legitimacy of the upcoming vote after refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.”
Things got worse in Holt’s hyperbolic opening (in which he called Trump’s comments some of the “most stunning” things ever said by a president) and White House correspondent Peter Alexander’s report (click “expand”):
HOLT: In a year and a season where shock is hardly in short supply, what may be among the most stunning words spoken by an American president are loudly resonating tonight. President Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election. The President dangling doubt over one of the most powerful rights of American democracy.
(....)
ALEXANDER: With the election just 40 days away, President Trump trailing Joe Biden in those polls is bulldozing one of the fundamental principles of American democracy, refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
(....)
ALEXANDER: The President amplifying his crusade to cast doubt on the election’s integrity, amping up his claims that an expected surge in voting will lead to widespread fraud. Though, there is no evidence that's true. The President would accept the results of a free and fair election. President Trump suggested the vote may be tainted. [TO TRUMP] Are the election results only legitimate if you win?
TRUMP: So we have to be very careful with the ballots. The ballots, that's a whole big scam.
ALEXANDER: Democrats comparing the President to a dictator.
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): You are not in Russia, Mr. President and by the way, you are not in Saudi Arabia. You are in the United States of America. It is a democracy.
ALEXANDER: A small group of Republicans also disapproving but few, if any, condemning President Trump by name.
The CBS Evening News wasn’t any better trying to send viewers into a hide-under-your-bed spell of fear. Anchor Norah O’Donnell connected polls showing Trump behind to him to him “say[ing] he's not sure this year's election will be honest, and he's falsely claiming tonight that mail-in voting is a whole big scam.”
CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang dismissed McEnany’s insistence Trump would accept the election results because, even though she’s his spokesperson, she’s not president: “Today, the White House press secretary said President Trump would accept the results of a free and fair election, but the President himself would not say that, fueling concerns that he will not relinquish power, even if he loses.”
She also seemed to imply that Trump could tamper with the election and ensure he stays in power by filling the Supreme Court vacancy: “Mr. Trump wants to fill her seat by election day, predicting whoever it is will help determine the result, which he argued may not be accurate because of ballot fraud.”
And, like with CBS, ABC’s World News Tonight wasn’t far behind NBC.
Anchor David Muir admonished Trump in the opening teases for his “stunning claims” that he would “cast doubt on the peaceful transfer of power.”
No word on what Muir thought about Hillary imploring Biden to not concede “under any circumstances,” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) asserting that Trump will “not...win fairly,” or bipartisan instances of voter fraud.
Fresh off of having admitted he’s come around to the arrogant, showboating of CNN’s Jim Acosta, ABC chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl followed Jiang’s lead in deeming McEnany a meaningless administration official (click “expand”):
KARL: The President sparked outrage after refusing to say there would be a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election.
(....)
KARL: Today, we put the question directly to the President's press secretary. [TO MCENANY] Very direct and very simple question. If the President loses this election, will this White House, will this President assure us that there will be a peaceful transfer of power? It's a very simple question.
MCENANY: The — the President will accept the results of a free and fair election.
KARL: It’s not clear that assurance means anything. The President has gone from warning about possible voter fraud to effectively declaring without evidence the election is already rigged.
(....)
KARL: Republicans stepped forward to insist there must be a peaceful transition of power, although most avoided mentioning the President by name.
Thursday’s hyperventilating and Resistance fan fiction of American descending into a dictatorship was made possible by advertisers such as Google (on ABC), Allstate (on CBS), and Liberty Mutual (on NBC). Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page. CBS Evening News has also asked people to “text Norah” at this number: (202) 217-1107.
