CBS Senior White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes went into full “Protect the Precious” mode as she covered the political fallout from the radical and often violent protests at various elite college campuses across the nation.
Watch as Cordes laments that “the unrest is now threatening to become an election issue” affecting President Biden with the youth vote:
PROTESTERS: Palestine will be free!
NANCY CORDES: Like many protesters, President Biden has expressed concern about the plight of Palestinian civilians. More than 34,000 killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. But when asked today if he would change his policies towards Israel, as the protesters have been demanding, Biden said, simply:
JOE BIDEN: No.
CORDES: The unrest is now threatening to become an election issue. Young people are a key Democratic voting bloc.
SELINA AL-SHIHABI: Biden needs to listen to what the students are calling for, which is an end to a genocide funded by the United States. So, first things first, stop funding Israel.
It is a small wonder that Cordes didn’t utter “Michigan” at some point in the report. You know she must’ve thought it. This item serves as a reminder that there is only one true, pure victim of whatever the calamity of the day might be- and that is the electoral prospects of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.
The report plays more like a mashup of two different reports: first, a recap of the happenings at the different universities across the nation, with their varying degrees of protest and crackdown. On the other hand, there is the standard D.C. wrapup.
In addition to the lamentation over the youth vote, the report unquestioningly cites Hamas Health casualty figures, and attempts to compensate for Biden’s perceived misfortunes by taking a “without evidence” shot at former President Donald Trump, who at a rally suggested that there were paid foreign agitators:
Laying down this marker for when it is discovered that at least ONE (1) foreign-born student and/or outside agitator was paid by some radical oligarch-funded organization. pic.twitter.com/kR0GYRjIU0
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 3, 2024
Cordes’ shootdown of Trump’s statement so early into the protest fallout is arrogant to the point of recklessness. All it takes is ONE paid foreign student/agitator in order to make Cordes look like a total fool.
The report closes with a casual “by the way” observation- that the Biden administration is thinking about bringing in some Gazan refugees to be reunited with family stateside. Again, Cordes managed to bite her tongue and not utter “Michigan”.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Thursday, May 2nd, 2024:
JAMES BROWN: And we begin tonight with President Biden's sharp criticism today of the violence that has broken out in protest on America's college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war. In recent weeks, nearly 2,000 people have been detained or arrested at dozens of schools. There were more protests today at Portland State, George Washington University, the University of Pennsylvania, and NYU. Speaking at the White House today, President Biden made his most extensive comments to date on the protests, condemning anti-semitic slurs, vandalism, trespassing, and major disruptions to classes and graduations at some universities. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says nearly half of those arrested earlier this week at Columbia University and nearby City College were not students at those schools. Adams claims outside agitators are radicalizing students. CBS's Nancy Cordes leads off our coverage tonight from The White House.
NANCY CORDES: White House officials say it was the sheer number of violent encounters on college campuses over the past two days that prompted President Biden to speak out.
JOE BIDEN: There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos.
CORDES: His comments came in the wake of nearly 2,000 arrests. More than 30 colleges and universities.
POLICE: Start clearing the barricade.
CORDES: Just today, protesters were ejected from a library at Portland State University that they had occupied for three days. Inside, police say they found ball bearings, paint balloons, spray bottles of ink, and DIY armor.
BIDEN: Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. None of this is a peaceful protest.
PROTESTERS: Palestine will be free!
CORDES: Like many protesters, President Biden has expressed concern about the plight of Palestinian civilians. More than 34,000 killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. But when asked today if he would change his policies towards Israel, as the protesters have been demanding, Biden said, simply:
BIDEN: No.
CORDES: The unrest is now threatening to become an election issue. Young people are a key Democratic voting bloc.
SELINA AL-SHIHABI: Biden needs to listen to what the students are calling for, which is an end to a genocide funded by the United States. So, first things first, stop funding Israel.
CORDES: In battleground Wisconsin, Donald Trump argued Biden should have spoken out sooner.
DONALD TRUMP: There’s a big fever in our country and he’s not talking.
CORDES: But Trump also made this unfounded claim about campus demonstrators.
TRUMP: They do come from other countries, and they are paid.
CORDES: Some Republicans have urged President Biden to send in the National Guard to quell campus protests, but he said no to that today. CBS News was first to report that the Biden administration is now considering bringing some Palestinians from war-torn Gaza to the U.S. as refugees. JB.
BROWN: Nancy, thank you very much.
