With President Biden contracting Covid Wednesday and showing even more physical impairment in his grim gait on and off Air Force One, the Republican National Convention was knocked off the pole position Thursday morning for the flagship major news shows of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
But when they did get to the RNC, they receive only mixed grades as ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today failed to mention the emotional video and series of speeches by Gold Star families about their loved ones who were killed in 2021 during Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
On the flip side, the networks were surprisingly muted and, dare we say it, positive toward Senator JD Vance’s (R-OH) speech accepting the GOP’s vice presidential nomination.
But first, the Afghanistan portion of the evening led to a moment few, if any, had seen before at a convention. ABC’s Terry Moran was moved during coverage on the streaming platform, ABC News Live:
ABC's @TerryMoran on the Gold Star families at #RNC2024: "David, I'm not sure I've ever experienced anything like that at a convention. The connection between this crowd and those family members of the fallen. It was just absolutely extraordinary. The emotions, the call and… pic.twitter.com/Nr8pTUT6mu
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 18, 2024
With ABC and NBC not interested on Thursday morning, we’ll point readers to this link from our friend Matthew Foldi, who wrote in The Spectator about the Gold Star families and their anguish
CBS correspondent Ed O’Keefe did the right thing:
This, from @EdOKeefe on @CBSMornings, was the only mention on the big three network morning newscasts (ABC, CBS, and NBC) of the Gold Star families who spoke at the #RNC2024 about their lost loved ones during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/GPwkwDsfXx
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 18, 2024
As for Vance, O’Keefe kept it cursory, which one could say was a positive for any Republican (click “expand”):
O’KEEFE: [L]ast night was all about J.D. Vance. The 29-year-old senator in politics such a short time, this was his first-ever Republican convention. What a way to start. He spent much of the evening talking about his background, using his youth — at least compared to the other guys — to his advantage and attacking President Biden.
[VANCE CLIP]
O’KEEFE: Noting his humble beginnings in Ohio, Senator JD Vance made his appeal to working class Americans —
[VANCE CLIP]
O’KEEFE: — and he wasted no time going after President Biden.
[VANCE CLIP]
O’KEEFE: Vance was introduced by his wife Usha, who’s the daughter of Indian immigrants and who he met at Yale Law School.
USHA VANCE: The JD I knew then is the same JD you see today — except for that beard.
O’KEEFE: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine told us Vance’s personal story is a big asset.
GOVERNOR MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): He’s gone through in his own life’s story — it’s a story that many Americans have gone through.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil said he “ma[de] an impression” with a speech “detail[ing] his rise from Middletown, Ohio, a childhood marked by poverty, his father’s incarceration, and his mother’s addiction” as well as denouncing “what he sees as the failed policies of past administrations, notably including Republicans, but especially and consistently things supported by Joe Biden.”
Even co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King was moved, saying Vance gave “quite the introduction” and admitted she “love[s]” his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.
Chief election and campaign correspondent, Robert Costa also put his daggers away for Vance, boasting his speech “was an overture to working Americans in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin” who “are the key voters in the election.”
NBC’s Today similarly didn’t have anything bad to say. Co-host Savannah Guthrie and Sunday Today host Willie Geist said Wednesday was “[a] rollicking show of unity” with Vance’s speech serving as “the hallmark” of the day while Democrats grappled with “questions...about the political future...of the President of the United States.”
Guthrie also said Vance’s “big introduction to the nation by far the biggest moment of his political career”, so he delivered “a deeply personal and biographical speech.”
After its Biden coverage, senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson didn’t put a foot wrong in either hour. Here was her first hour (click “expand”):
JACKSON: Overnight, Ohio Senator JD Vance making his prime time political debut.
[VANCE CLIP]
JACKSON: Donald Trump’s running mate highlighting his rural upbringing in Middletown, Ohio.
[VANCE CLIP]
JACKSON: The author of Hillbilly Elegy, connecting his turbulent childhood raised in poverty to key voter issues like inflation and immigration. Vance also honoring his late grandmother who raised him while his mother struggled with addiction. She was there last night watching from the hall.
[VANCE CLIP]
JACKSON: The former self-described Never Trumper now positioning himself as a loyal number two, repeatedly name-dropping key rust belt battlegrounds the Trump campaign hopes to win come November.
[VANCE CLIP]
JACKSON: And Vance not shying away from attacks on President Biden, pointedly referencing his own age at 39 years old, the first millennial on a major party ticket.
(....)
GUTHRIE: [The Trump campaign] view[s] him as their path to the Midwest and these states — the rust belt states, where he obviously grew up, and he — he was emphasizing those blue collar roots.
JACKSON: You saw that over and over again, especially with those references to Michigan, that he ad libbed, to Wisconsin to Pennsylvania. When I talk to sources in and around the trump campaign, they talk about seeing JD Vance as an asset, specifically in the Rust Belt and you may wonder why. Donald Trump is already likely to win over those rural, exurban voters, but it’s all about trying to boost turnout inside the Rust Belt. Donald Trump has a slight lead in those three battleground states, but it is inside the margin of error. And the Trump campaign is looking to lock that in. They’re hoping J.D. Vance will be the ticket for that.
GUTHRIE: And they really are must-wins for the Democrats for a path to 270 for — for President Biden.
ABC’s Good Morning America had correspondent Rachel Scott on the case and played it straightforward to the point that liberals would be irked, relaying to viewers that Vance “leaned on his Midwestern roots to make the case for the Republican ticket” and “introduced himself to the nation” as a pick by Trump “in part for his ability to preach Trump’s populist message, denouncing trade deals, immigration, and inflation, and laying it at the feet of President Biden, a sharp reminder of the President’s age.”
“Vance grew up in poverty in the Rust Belt, served in the Marine Corps, and attended Yale Law School. While working as venture capitalist, he rose to fame with his 2016 working class memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, a bestseller-turned Ron Howard film...Vance repeatedly relying on that biography, especially as he tries to appeal to the Midwestern swing states that will decide this election,” she added.
It wasn’t all fun and games as, after more laudatory notes, she ended by invoking the aftermath of the 2020 election (click “expand”):
SCOTT: Trump, of course, is not even on speaking terms with the first vice president, Mike Pence who defied pressure from the former President and ultimately ended up certifying the 2020 election results. Senator JD Vance has suggested that he would have followed Trump’s lead and would have handled that entirely differently. So, tonight, here on the fourth and final night, it is Donald Trump’s turn to take the stage and officially accept the Republican’s party’s [sic] nomination for president. Now, Trump himself has said that he ripped up his speech after that attempted assassination on his life to focus more on unity, but after his rhetoric this campaign, we will see whether or not that holds, George.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Right, Rachel, and just to underscore something you just said there, he made it very clear that he would not have certified the 2020 election.
To see the relevant transcripts from July 18, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
