Is water wet? Is the sky blue? What’s the logo of Target? These questions all seem obvious, but the question of who would receive the 2024 presidential endorsement of the far-left United Auto Workers was big news for the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
As such, they marveled at the “powerful” union’s “big endorsement” of President Biden as he “[h]it[s] the accelerator to the campaign’s next phase”.
On Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt trumped the “major endorsement” while White House sycophant Kelly O’Donnell boasted of Biden “[h]itting the accelerator to the campaign’s next phase” with the UAW endorsement a sign of strength among “blue-collar workers liv[ing] in critical Midwest battlegrounds” pitting Trump’s “appeal to the working class” versus “Biden’s history backing labor.”
ABC’s World News Tonight anchor David Muir was an enthusiastic Captain Obvious, proclaiming “there is news” in the form of “the major” and “big endorsement” of Biden by UAW.
Congressional correspondent Rachel Scott had the story on both World News Tonight and on Thursday’s Good Morning America, touting Biden as having “welcom[ed]” the “powerful” union’s endorsement “four months after traveling to Michigan to walk the picket line with striking workers.”
On the former, Scott added another obvious tidbit that UAW President Shawn Fain used the occasion to “fir[e] straight at Donald Trump” (with pedantic union talking points).
Wednesday’s CBS Evening News thought the UAW endorsement was such a big deal that it came up not once, but twice in the newscast (click “expand”):
CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS: President Biden is already in general election mode, saying: “It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee” and “the stakes could not be higher.” Biden used his endorsement today by the United Auto Workers to highlight the differences with Trump.
BIDEN: Tens of thousands of auto jobs were lost nationwide during Trump’s presidency. During my presidency, we have opened 20 auto factories, with more to come. [CHEERS]
(....)
NORAH O’DONNELL: Let’s talk about President Joe Biden. He got — won a big endorsement today from the UAW. And, of course, that state of Michigan is a key state.
ROBERT COSTA: Getting the UAW endorsement really significant for President Biden, especially in Michigan, which is going to be a battleground, but the scene there today at that rally with the UAW really indicative of the challenges he’s facing, was interrupted constantly by protesters...complaining about...how he’s handling Israel’s conflict with Hamas. This is a lingering issue over the Democrats right now. They like President Biden in the labor community, but a lot of younger progressives not so happy about foreign policy.
O’DONNELL: Yeah, that has worried a number of Democrats, what’s happening in Michigan.
Thursday’s CBS Mornings had a full segment befitting of an official, state-run TV channel. Co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King had the setup, touting Fain as having taken “direct aim at former President Trump”.
“The president of the United Auto workers didn’t just endorse President Biden Wednesday. He also slammed Mr. Biden’s opponent for a history of what he described as anti-union policies,” chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes trumpeted.
Acting as if it were in doubt, Cordes added that “Biden had been courting the UAW and its 400,000 members for some time” such as his September trip to Michigan to stand with “striking workers on the picket line”.
Cordes offered more fluff about Biden and union support, adding he’d spend Thursday touting infrastructure projects and that one of his State of the Union guests will be Kate Cox, a Texas woman who was strapped to a proverbial rocket by the pro-abortion industry as she wanted an abortion for what she said was a non-viable pregnancy (click “expand”):
CORDES: The endorsement could give Mr. Biden a boost in the swing state of Michigan, the heart of the U.S. auto industry. Nationwide, 20 percent of voters in 2020 said someone in their household belonged to a labor union. 56 percent of them went for President Biden, 40 percent for Trump.
BIDEN: God bless the American worker. Thank you, thank you, thank you. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CORDES: Today, Mr. Biden will travel to another swing state, Wisconsin, to unveil another $5 billion worth of transportation projects stemming from the infrastructure law he passed in 2022. The latest outlays include $1 billion to replace the aging Blatnik Bridge connecting Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin, $600 million to fix the I-5 bridge from Vancouver, Washington to Portland, Oregon. And $300 million to build a new container terminal in the port of New Orleans, Louisiana. We’ve been reporting on the Biden team’s plans to make abortion rights a key issue in this campaign, and we got another example of that yesterday. The White House announced that Kate Cox, the Texas woman whose fight to terminate a non-viable pregnancy became national news, has been invited to sit with the First Lady at the State of the Union address in March[.]
Finally on NBC’s Today, Saturday co-host and White House correspondent Peter Alexander gushed about Biden “[l]ooking to rev up the support of working class voters in key swing states like Michigan” by “securing a coveted endorsement from one of the country's most powerful unions, the United Auto Workers”.
To see the relevant transcripts from January 24, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). To see the relevant transcripts from January 25, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
