On Monday’s NBC Today, MSNBC political analyst Nicolle Wallace explained the Republican Party’s long-term distrust of the press: “At the core is a massive generational distrust with the mainstream media and it bubbled over in the debate last week.”
Moments later, co-host Savannah Guthrie tried to dismiss such GOP objections to liberal media bias as nothing more than political posturing: “But isn't the bottom line just what you said, blaming the media is a longtime winning strategy?”
Wallace responded: “It is because you can always find an example where it's legitimate. And where they have to be careful is not to overplay this hand because they’ve got the party behind them right now.”
Fellow co-host Matt Lauer followed up by paraphrasing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s argument that “...on the other hand here, if you can't handle a couple of tough questions or even what seemed like biased questions, how are you going to take on a general election against someone like Hillary Clinton?”
Wallace observed: “That's right. And you know, Hillary Clinton's folks are saying, you know, ‘We don't get any favors from the media either.’ So I think this frustration with the media goes both ways.”
Introducing a prior report on the Republican presidential campaigns meeting to discuss rules for future debates, Guthrie hyped “upheaval within the Republican Party.” Correspondent Peter Alexander breathlessly announced: “But be very clear, this was an unprecedented meeting with the campaigns grabbing back the reins, essentially pushing the Republican National Committee aside, even as the RNC tried to end any revolt, announcing its own new point person for debate negotiations.”
On Friday, Alexander similarly proclaimed that the GOP was “in full revolt” over the debates.
Here is a full transcript of Guthrie and Lauer talking to Wallace on November 2:
7:07 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Let's bring in Nicolle Wallace to the conversation, MSNBC analyst, former White House communications director for President George W. Bush. Good morning.
NICOLLE WALLACE: This is getting fun.
MATT LAUER: You’re laughing already. Go ahead.
GUTHRIE I know. I mean, it’s just fascinating, the dynamics here. So the candidates versus Republican Party leaders, right? What's really going on here? Is this a vote of no confidence in the RNC?
WALLACE: Well, this is a wish to return to the way it used to be. The campaigns used to have a greater say. And certainly in the general election, and you guys know this, in the general election both campaigns, the Republican and the Democrat, negotiate through the debate commission directly with the networks.
So this is – this is a smart move by the campaigns to try to have more say. But the notion that you could get a front-runner campaign like Donald Trump and an underdog campaign like Bobby Jindal to want and need the same things out of the debates is where they are going to go astray.
LAUER: And yet, even as you say that, I kind of expected to wake up this morning to some stunning demands.
WALLACE: Right.
LAUER: Game-changing demands. And these are more –
WALLACE: Yeah, it’s the thermostat.
LAUER: These are tweaks.
WALLACE: Yeah. But here's the thing, we're sort of talking around the edges of it. At the core is a massive generational distrust with the mainstream media and it bubbled over in the debate last week. And Ted Cruz on the stump in Iowa this weekend talked about a litmus test that I've never heard before in my life, about – he said no one should moderate a GOP primary debate who doesn't plan to vote in a GOP primary.
LAUER: Or hasn't.
WALLACE: So I don't know how they would ever enforce that. And you know, to me where Republicans need to be careful is these debates, they’re actually serving a lot of the candidates very well. And in my life I've never seen more Republicans on the airwaves of mainstream media outlets, from morning shows, to the town hall you did, to late night, to daytime. So they’re taking great advantage of the media this cycle.
GUTHRIE: But isn't the bottom line just what you said, blaming the media is a longtime winning strategy?
WALLACE: It is because you can always find an example where it's legitimate. And where they have to be careful is not to overplay this hand because they’ve got the party behind them right now.
LAUER: And Chris Christie says, you know, on the other hand here, if you can't handle a couple of tough questions or even what seemed like biased questions, how are you going to take on a general election against someone like Hillary Clinton?
WALLACE: That's right. And you know, Hillary Clinton's folks are saying, you know, “We don't get any favors from the media either.” So I think this frustration with the media goes both ways. But I think what Republicans are hoping is they bring it back to some more even footing.
GUTHRIE: Nicolle, thank you very much.
WALLACE: Thank you.
GUTHRIE: By the way, speaking of politics, Lester Holt’s gonna have an exclusive interview with the President tonight on NBC Nightly News and we’ll have more of that interview tomorrow morning on Today.
