During the first half of their extended post-election coverage Wednesday evening, NBC Nightly News seemed to be setting the ground work for four years of a President Donald Trump all while stoking the left’s anxieties. “There were gasps around the world. Headlines, ‘Trumpocalypse’ and ‘Disunited States’” hyped NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel as he delved into the ridiculous, “But there are deeper concerns tonight that the world's shining light of democracy has gone dark.”
“You cannot look at President Trump and call the American president the leader of the free world” fretted the leftist Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer to Engel, “Because America has increasingly abdicated its legitimacy to that title.”
Engel claimed that the only world leaders to welcome a President Trump was a vast array of some of the world worst despots, “Those welcoming the most were right-wing parties, who rushed to embrace Trump as their new hero.” Engels was eager to tie as many of them to Trump as possible:
“He's like me,” joked the Filipino president, accused of turning his police into anti-narco death squads. Egypt's General Sisi, who came to power in a coup bragged he was the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump. And Hungary's Victor Orban who did wall out his country to keep out refugees called Trump “great news.” And of course, Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Closing out his report, Engel speculated that Trump’s “presidency could usher in global instability.”
On CBS Evening News it was a little different, as they seemed to be trying to talk liberal off the ledge and assure them Trump could not inflict much harm. Anchor Scott Pelley gave his audience a crash course in the Constitution:
Do these words sum up for you the faults in these campaigns? Passionate partisanship, absurd judgment, and ambitious self-serving behavior? Well, if so, consider those are the words that John Adams used in 1776 to advocate for a constitution with three branches of government — separate, equal, and hopelessly encumbered by hobbles known as checks and balances…
These days we call it gridlock, but that is what the Founders were striving for, a system that would slow down, even stop, when politics became too partisan, absurd, and self-serving. The Constitution is a circuit breaker that prevents real damage.
It’s very hypocritical how liberals seem to miraculously care about the limits and bounds of the federal government when they’re the ones out of power. This is especially true since they often attacked Republicans for creating gridlock yet praised it as a method to impede Trump. If these reports are any indication, these are the kinds of attacks Republicans have to look forward to for the next four years.
Transcripts below:
NBC
Nightly News
November 9, 2016
7:10:09 PM [2 Minutes 1 Second]LESTER HOLT: As you might expect, the impact of the American election is reverberating around the world tonight. There are concerns among some foreign leaders about how Donald Trump might view America's traditional role in world affairs. But there are plenty of congratulations being extended to the president-elect. Including those of Vladimir Putin. We get details from our chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel.
[Cuts to video]
UNIDENTIFIED BBC ANCHOR: Donald Trump is the President-Elect of the United States.
RICHARD ENGEL: There were gasps around the world. Headlines, “Trumpocalypse” and “Disunited States.” And echoes of the Brexit vote too, against the European Union establishment. But there are deeper concerns tonight that the world's shining light of democracy has gone dark.
IAN BREMMER: You cannot look at President Trump and call the American president the leader of the free world. Because America has increasingly abdicated its legitimacy to that title.
ENGEL: Those welcoming the most were right-wing parties, who rushed to embrace Trump as their new hero.
“He's like me,” joked the Filipino president, accused of turning his police into anti-narco death squads. Egypt's General Sisi, who came to power in a coup bragged he was the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump. And Hungary's Victor Orban who did wall out his country to keep out refugees called Trump “great news.” And of course, Russia's Vladimir Putin.
DONALD TRUMP: I think I would have a very, very good relationship with Putin and I think I would have a very, very good relationship with Russia.
ENGEL: Putin said today he's ready to open a new chapter with the U.S.
MICHAEL MCFAUL: They see in Mr. Trump, President-Elect Trump, somebody that they can do business with. There will be a honeymoon period for sure.
[Cuts back to live]
ENGEL: On foreign affairs, Trump is considered unpredictable, stoking fears that at least initially his presidency could usher in global instability. Lester.
HOLT: Richard Engel tonight. Richard, Thanks.
CBS
Evening News
November 9, 2016
6:56:58 PM Eastern [1 minute 43 seconds]SCOTT PELLEY: In the days before Election Day, someone asked me a question I had never considered before: “Are we going to be okay?” I didn't know who they wanted for president. It didn't matter, because this was the sweet election on both sides of the divide. Do these words sum up for you the faults in these campaigns? Passionate partisanship, absurd judgment, and ambitious self-serving behavior? Well, if so, consider those are the words that John Adams used in 1776 to advocate for a constitution with three branches of government — separate, equal, and hopelessly encumbered by hobbles known as checks and balances.
James Madison called the separation of powers “the essential precaution in favor of liberty.” The American government is inefficient. These days we call it gridlock, but that is what the Founders were striving for, a system that would slow down, even stop, when politics became too partisan, absurd, and self-serving. The Constitution is a circuit breaker that prevents real damage. If you're among those who believe this was the election no one saw coming, you're mistaken. The Founders could not have imagined the horizons of our modern world, but the range of human nature is ever the same. From the second-floor windows of a building in Philadelphia, they could see a distance of 229 years. Are you going to get what you want from the next government? No telling. Are we going to be okay? No question.
