During NBC’s live special Inauguration Day coverage on Friday morning, ahead of Donald Trump taking the oath of office, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd warned that the new president “needs to earn this honeymoon” and “ missed some opportunities these last six to eight weeks...to just erase the asterisk” of his election.
Todd defended the characterization: “Whatever you want to say about it – and I know some supporters will say, ‘Why do you say that?’ – but look, when you win an election this way, the split popular vote, you know it's a divided country....I wonder if he'll be thinking about that at noon today.”
Moments later, he observed: “...‘09 versus today. So in '09, we were in the process of an economic – we were on the brink of an economic disaster....Yet this town, this capital, there was a euphoric atmosphere. Here we are, the economy feels better. The country seems on the one hand economically more stable than it was eight years ago, and yet, there's an uneasiness.”
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Political analyst Nicolle Wallace called out Todd’s inside-the-beltway perspective: “The euphoria is in the places where they got their guy. So this town I wouldn't expect to be euphoric....But the euphoria is out in America...where this was a celebration and a victory against elites, against the establishment of both parties.”
Here are excerpts of the January 20 coverage:
10:20 AM ET
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LESTER HOLT: We were just kind of teeing up a conversation I wanted to have about the state of the country today with this transfer of power versus eight years ago, when the country was on the economic brink, the auto industry was on the brink. Will Donald Trump have more running room, more of a honeymoon of some sort, given the fact that the country’s not in an emergency state, as it was?
CHUCK TODD: He needs to earn this honeymoon. I think he has an opportunity to earn it. But he's – I'm sorry, I've said it before – he missed some opportunities these last six to eight weeks to – and again, I’ll go to what – to just erase the asterisk. Whatever you want to say about it – and I know some supporters will say, “Why do you say that?” – but look, when you win an election this way, the split popular vote, you know it's a divided country. George W. Bush did a tremendous job in the shortened period to make outreach, you know, appointing a Democrat to the cabinet, at the time, that hadn't been done in a while. And just doing tiny things there to just start the healing process. I think Donald Trump’s gotten to a late start here, Hugh Hewitt. But that’s what – I wonder if he'll be thinking about that at noon today.
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10:22 AM
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CHUCK TODD: You brought up ‘09 versus today. So in '09, we were in the process of an economic – we were on the brink of an economic disaster, experiencing it in the moment. At the time, we almost were losing a million jobs that month that Barack Obama took the oath of office. Yet this town, this capital, there was a euphoric atmosphere. Here we are, the economy feels better. The country seems on the one hand economically more stable than it was eight years ago, and yet, there's an uneasiness.
NICOLLE WALLACE: But the euphoria – listen, I spent all last week covering Trump voters. The euphoria is in the places where they got their guy. So this town I wouldn't expect to be euphoric. I mean, certain pockets of it will be. But the euphoria is out in America where I think the result was experienced like Brexit, where this was a celebration and a victory against elites, against the establishment of both parties.
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