Tuesday morning the three networks continued their fawning coverage of the thousands of illegal aliens heading to the U.S./Mexico border while ABC and NBC spent additional time worrying that President Trump's “threats” about the caravan would motivate Republican voters to the polls.
Senior White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega had the strongest rebuke for the President on ABC’s Good Morning America. She downplayed the caravan as not that big of a deal, and repeatedly slammed Trump for using the caravan to “stoke fear” for the midterms:
[T]his so-called national emergency actually really represents about 0.06% of all the undocumented people already in this country so we are talking about a very small fraction of people here but the president is hoping that this is a winning strategy, the same strategy that helped him win the White House to help give Republicans an edge in the midterms and that strategy is stoking fears about immigration. Overnight, President Trump banking on that migrant caravan being a winning applause line on the campaign trail.
Playing clips from Trump’s rally where he warned about gang members, terrorists and being funded by Democrats, Vega scolded:
“He's using it to rally his base and scare voters to the polls and he's doing it with false claims,” she stated, adding that there was "no evidence" to back up his claims.
Meanwhile, ABC was the only network to tout President Obama taking shots at President Trump while stumping for Democrats:
OBAMA: Unlike some, I actually try to state facts.
VEGA: His message clear, even if he never once mentioned President Trump by name.
OBAMA: I don't believe in just making stuff up. I think you should like actually say to people what's true.
NBC’s Today show wasn’t much better, with anchor Hoda Kotb framing Trump as the villain “making threats:”
“President Trump making new threats against that migrant caravan during a late night rally and the unsubstantiated claims that Democrats are funding it,” she stated, adding that it has become the Republicans’ “biggest talking point with 14 days to go to the midterms.”
Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez echoed that theme, hyping Trump as a bully who was overreacting and making up claims just to get Republicans to the polls:
The president is threatening to cut off foreign aid as the central american countries that let them pass as he ramps up his rhetoric ahead of the midterms. This morning as the caravan defiantly inches closer to the U.S., President Trump is calling it an assault on our country, telling "Usa today" that he will send as many troops to the border as necessary.
...
There is no evidence the caravan was organized by anyone other than Honduran political leaders and social activists. The president now tweeting, this is a national emergency.
After that report, White House correspondent Peter Alexander slammed Trump for appealing to “fear” to motivate his base, (as if that hasn’t been Democrats’ message to their base for the past two years):
[W]hat is striking here is the economy is strong. Unemployment is low. Instead of talking about his achievements these days, the president really is leaning into this message of fear. His closing argument focuses on stoking these fears of illegal immigration, MS-13, shadowy Middle Eastern figures. It's what he is doing recently to motivate his base of support his voters, to stave off Democrats from winning back the house or the senate or both. obviously, what's crucial in this circumstance is that the president recognizes that he is up against a wall right here.
CBS This Morning offered the most straightforward report, while noting that immigration was a rallying issue, the journalists did not slam Trump as a fearmonger as the other networks did.
