Like the rest of the liberal media, NBC News was a reliable ally over and over and over and over and over again for the pro-lockdown crowd during the coronavirus pandemic (and those links were a small sampling), but as we saw on Monday’s Today, the network believes something entirely different when it comes to common sense law enforcement measures during spring break in South Florida to counter what had been years of chaos and violence.
As per correspondent Sam Brock, it’s meant a lot of “pressure” on and “sacrifice for some businesses” to the point that it’s “devastating.”
Gee, where was this when the federal government under the last President and most governors (except for a few, such as Florida Republican Ron DeSantis) when they locked down Americans for months on end, causing devastating economic and mental ruin?
The story on spring break was billed as merely a look into how a surge of law enforcement was panning out. Co-host Savannah Guthrie spoke in one of three teases of “[t]he unprecedented crackdown in Miami Beach” triggering “smaller crowds”.
In the third tease, Brock raised concerns about the surge of law enforcement to ensure order was both “total transformation in Miami Beach” and “sacrifice for some business”.
The setup to Brock’s report had it right, though, with co-host Hoda Kotb expressing relief that “the headlines that surround” spring break in Miami “have definitely changed” and Guthrie noting “[w]e’re not hearing about the chaos and violence like recent years”.
Brock started off by explaining one of the other changes “has been the barricades” that “were up and down Ocean Drive and the street over from that and the street over from that, keeping chaos, guys, to a minimum”.
That said, he huffed, the law and order has placed “some pressure on businesses too”.
Showing snippets of chaos from recent years with “unruly crowds” and “fatal shootings” that “darken[ed] the sun-soaked celebrations” and precipitated a change, Brock brought up the “DUI checkpoints and barricades to block parking” before pivoting to a narrative that this move by DeSantis and Florida law enforcement has harmed stores.
Then, he even called it “devastating” with the lack of chaos merely an “upshot” (click “expand”):
BROCK: Police making more than 140 arrests so far, utilizing DUI checkpoints and barricades to block parking, which you’ll see in front of Tracy Revell’s store, The Baked Bear, on nearby Washington Avenue.
TRACY REVELL: To know that our sales are down from the previous week pre-spring break, that’s a huge impact for me. [TO CUSTOMER] This one is a pistachio.
BROCK: Revell is grateful for the safety measures, but says the restrictions are eating into her profit business at least 20 percent. [TO REVELL] Can you fault the city for taking these steps?
REVELL: It’s kind of hard to fault them because, again, we want them to be safe. [SCREEN WIPE] But we don’t want Miami to shut down. We want people to want to come to South Beach.
BROCK: Right down the street — [TO ARTEAGA] Under normal circumstance how crowded would this restaurant be right now?
EDUARDO ARTEAGA: I would have at least half of the tables and maybe some people at the bar.
BROCK: [TO ARTEAGA] So it would not be — [CUT TO VOICE OVER] Bolivar restaurant is empty at 6:00 on a Sunday.
ARTEAGA: I don’t know. I mean, if you’re a customer and you want to — you see look, oh, Latin American restaurant and you have no place to — to park, what can you do?
BROCK [TO ARTEAGA]: So, this right here is devastating for business?
ARTEAGA: Yeah. This is devastation for us.
BROCK: The upshot for the city and South Florida is that order is being restored.
“In a place that’s traditionally been a spring break haven for rowdy college students, now as millions flock here to unwind, it’s partying with parameters,” Brock added.
Only in tossing back to the co-hosts did Brock share “a lot of businesses are in support of these measures, certainly for the safety components” even though “the enhanced parking restrictions like these barricades are going from Thursday through Sunday chunks for the next couple of weekends and then, also, we’re looking at a situation where all the parking garages in South Beach are closed for next weekend as well.”
“[B]ut the breakup has been successful so far as we have not heard any reports of violence or shootings and, of course, that is the best news we could be delivering,” added, finally deciding to play Captain Obvious.
Guthrie did try to have it both ways, fretting how the parking restrictions and added police “kills [people] to lose that business, but drastic measures it had gotten to the point of no return.”
“It’s why you can’t have nice things,” Melvin replied.
In reaction to blowback from his report on X, Brock claimed in a tweet to Florida Voice’s Brendon Leslie these criticisms are unwarranted:
To see the relevant NBC transcript from March 11, click here.
