On Tuesday night, ABC News will air a prime time special featuring correspondent Terry Moran’s interview with President Donald Trump to talk about the first 100 days of the administration.
Expect a hostile interview.
In his coverage of Trump, Moran has called Trump a “Fuhrer,” and accused him of “stirring racist fears,” with his “Neo-Nazi ways.”
In sharp contrast, Moran has been soft-hearted in his coverage of Democrats and progressives. In 2009, Moran gushed: “Barack Obama is the first president since George Washington to be taking a step down into the Oval Office.” In 2019, he hyped Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign: “Will America feel the Bern?” adding that the Vermont Senator has “made democratic socialism cool for millions of voters.”
The following are just a few of the most obnoxious takes from Moran (via the MRC’s archives):
TRASHING CONSERVATIVES
Trump’s Hold Over GOP Is Like the “Fuhrer”
“He [Donald Trump] has the Republican party as a personalized power like we haven’t seen. It’s a caudillo, it’s a Caesar, it’s a Fuhrer, we don’t see that in this country. We do now.”
— ABC senior national correspondent Terry Moran on ABC News live coverage of Trump impeachment, February 10, 2021.
Trump “Stirring Racist Fears”
“Looking to shore up shrinking support with the white voters he needs to recapture the White House, the president boasted about rolling back an Obama era fair housing rule, stirring racist fears….The policy was aimed at encouraging communities to address the impact of decades long segregation and discrimination in America's neighborhoods tying federal funding to efforts to bridge inequality. President Trump targeting a regulation that overwhelmingly helped low income minorities….In a year already fueled with racial tension and social unrest, stoking the flames of that upheaval.”
— Correspondent Terry Moran on ABC’s Good Morning America, July 30, 2020.
“Women Will Die” Because of Supreme Court Roe Abortion Ruling
“This is the most consequential Supreme Court decision in decades. It changes the status of American women as citizens of the United States and as citizens of their states. That’s the big picture. But let’s not mince words, women will die because of this ruling.”
— Correspondent Terry Moran on ABC’s This Week, June 26, 2022.
Stunned by Trump’s Anti-Semitic “Neo-Nazi” Ways
Anchor George Stephanopoulos: “Students of history will take note of that slogan, America first.”
Correspondent Terry Moran: “It’s a loaded term in American history. Now, he defined it here as total allegiance to the United States of America, and it is something, as Cecilia said, this is why he was sent here by people who want to hear that message of America first. However, it carries with it overtones from the 1930s when an anti-Semitic movement saying, ‘We don’t want to get involved in Europe’s war. It’s the Jews’ fault in Germany!’ Charles Lindbergh led them. It is a term, as he defined it his way, but the words themselves carry very ugly echos in our history.”
— ABC News live coverage of Trump inauguration, January 20, 2017.
Trump is a “Laughingstock in the Capitals of Europe”
“He’s [Donald Trump] got an agenda in the world which is disruptive, like his agenda at home. They [European leaders] want to come to terms with it. He’s been sent by the American people to change things. Right? And they’re ready to do business with him....And they’re lost in the weeds of this adolescence out of Washington....The White House, at this point, is a laughingstock in the capitals of Europe.”
— Correspondent Terry Moran on ABC’s This Week, March 19, 2017.
PRAISING PROGRESSIVES
Biden “Hit Hard” In His State of the Union Address
“A lot of Democrats over the past few weeks have been panicking. I’ll bet the vast majority of them feel better tonight. Because the President did hit hard….This was the old time religion, the middle-class, working-class, labor-Democrat agenda. And he reached for it again and again and again, both in terms of the values. That line, ‘you can’t love your country only when you win.’ The best line of the speech. Fair play and decency are bedrock values in the middle-class. No matter who people voted for, the notion that you don’t love your country if your guys lose doesn’t sit well with them. And then right across that economic agenda, hitting again and again and again, middle-class, middle-class values.”
— Correspondent Terry Moran during ABC’s live coverage of the State of the Union address, March 7, 2024.
Awed by Adam Schiff’s Impeachment Trial Performance
“Adam Schiff addressing the Senate sitting as a court of impeachment with a proper legal argument. It was meticulous and well organized...At times, he tried to rise to a level of eloquence and to stir a sense of responsibility for the Senate....Even rising to the level of senatorial eloquence, if there is such a thing. In contrast to the rhetoric that we live with every day. The kind of brash and proudly profane Trumpian rhetoric where argument consists of gainsaying your opponent or calling them names.”
— Correspondent Terry Moran during ABC’s live coverage of Senate impeachment trial, January 22, 2020.
“Will America Feel the Bern?” Sanders “Made Socialism Cool for Millions”
“Will America feel the Bern? That’s the question this morning. Bernie Sanders has made it official and he’s betting that this time at 77 years old his no frills, no nonsense, no apologies proudly progressive agenda can carry him all the way to the White House….In 2016 Bernie Sanders changed the Democratic party. He made democratic socialism cool for millions of voters.”
— Correspondent Terry Moran on ABC’s Good Morning America, February 19, 2019.
Obama Is “Taking a Step Down Into the Oval Office”
“I like to say that, in some ways, Barack Obama is the first president since George Washington to be taking a step down into the Oval Office. I mean, from visionary leader of a giant movement, now he’s got an executive position that he has to perform in, in a way.”
— ABC Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran to Media Bistro’s Steve Krakauer in a February 20, 2009 “Morning Media Menu” podcast.
Moran Gushes About Obama: “The Thrill, the Hope,” “Is He the One?”
“You can see it in the crowds. The thrill, the hope. How they surge toward him. You’re looking at an American political phenomenon....He inspires the party faithful and many others, like no one else on the scene today....And the question you can sense on everyone’s mind, as they listen so intently to him, is he the one? Is Barack Obama the man, the black man, who could lead the Democrats back to the White House and maybe even unite the country?...Everywhere he goes, people want him to run for President, especially in Iowa, cradle of presidential contenders. Around here, they’re even naming babies after him.”
— Co-anchor Terry Moran on ABC’s Nightline, November 6, 2006.
