After spending all of last week hailing the nasty and divisive rhetoric that was spewed at the Democratic National Convention, on Tuesday, NBC’s Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie had the gall to push South Carolina Senator Tim Scott to call for the “rhetoric” at the Republican National Convention to be “ratcheted down” following night one of the GOP gathering.
Teeing up a montage of soundbites from the RNC that she considered unseemly, Guthrie lectured: “The Republicans last week ripped the Democrats’ convention for being dark and promised that theirs would be more optimistic and hopeful. Let me play a sampling of some of the speeches we heard last night.”
Following the clips, the anchor turned to Scott and fretted: “Now, your speech was pretty upbeat, although you did land some punches, I’ll grant you. Do you like that message that the convention sent last night or do you wish that rhetoric would be ratcheted down a little bit?”
It’s important to remember the collective joy the networks experienced one week earlier, immediately following Michelle Obama’s anti-Trump tirade headlining the first night of the Democratic convention. There was no concern that she should have “ratcheted down” her rhetoric. Instead, she received universal adulation from NBC, ABC, and CBS, with reporters hailing her “searing indictment” of the President.
In response to Guthrie on Tuesday, Scott reminded her that there was a political campaign going on:
Well, this is a political process and drawing contrast is very important. What I like to think about is what I spoke about, because important to me is that may grandfather’s 99th birthday is today and the fact that America has changed so much. We’ve evolved into a better nation and we continue to move towards that more perfect union. So while there were certainly some fire and brimstone last week and we certainly created a stark contrast this week, the importance of the messages that I’m trying to provide to the American people is that we are better together. And this election cycle, we’ll have a chance to decide the fate of this nation and the direction of this nation. And I’m actually very optimistic and excited about where we’re going.
In addition to scolding Scott about the tone of the RNC, Guthrie also repeatedly pushed the idea that Republicans had nothing but an “uphill” slog heading into the November election:
> Let’s talk about the state of the race this morning. You can pick your poll, but if you average them out, most polls show Vice President Biden about seven points ahead of President Trump. Is this an uphill battle for re-election, in your mind, for the President, or do you think the polls are off the mark?
> Last night featured many black speakers. You were the closer, the headliner. And there really was a concerted effort, it seemed, to reach black voters in particular. As you well know, in the polls, about 8% of black voters support the President. I think it’s 88% for Vice President Biden. How much of an uphill climb is this to try to win back some of those black voters?
Notice how Democrats never seem to get those kind of questions about rhetoric or whether they’ll have an “uphill climb” to reach voters. That’s because leftist media outlets like NBC are always rooting for Democrats to succeed.
Moments after Scott deliver the keynote address at the RNC Monday night, all three networks offered brief, faint praise before using the speech to bash Trump.
Guthrie’s lecturing of Scott on the Today show was brought to viewers by Toyota and Old Navy. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the August 25 interview:
7:06 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: South Carolina Senator Tim Scott gave the final speech of the evening and joins us this morning from Washington. Senator, good morning, thanks for waking up early.
SEN. TIM SCOTT [R-SC]: Good morning, hope you’re doing well.
GUTHRIE: Let’s talk about the state of the race this morning. You can pick your poll, but if you average them out, most polls show Vice President Biden about seven points ahead of President Trump. Is this an uphill battle for re-election, in your mind, for the President, or do you think the polls are off the mark?
SCOTT: Well, I mean, the polls were off in 2016 and I would not be surprised if the polls are off now. But more importantly, we better use the next 70 days to sell our case. I think we’re going to do so. I think October is the month to remember. In my opinion, elections don’t really start until after Labor Day. So where we are right now in this election cycle is less important than where we’ll be in October. So I am looking forward to actually seeing this race sharpen. And then the debates will be the determining factor, in my opinion, of how this election turns out.
GUTHRIE: The Republicans last week ripped the Democrats’ convention for being dark and promised that theirs would be more optimistic and hopeful. Let me play a sampling of some of the speeches we heard last night.
DONALD TRUMP JR.: It’s almost like this election is shaping up to be church, work, and school versus rioting, looting, and vandalism.
REP. MATT GAETZ [R-FL]: They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door.
PATRICIA MCCLOSKEY: Your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America.
ANDREW POLLACK: Far-left Democrats in our school district made this shooting possible.
KIMBERLEY GUILFOYLE: They want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live!
GUTHRIE: Now, your speech was pretty upbeat, although you did land some punches, I’ll grant you. Do you like that message that the convention sent last night or do you wish that rhetoric would be ratcheted down a little bit?
SCOTT: Well, this is a political process and drawing contrast is very important. What I like to think about is what I spoke about, because important to me is that may grandfather’s 99th birthday is today and the fact that America has changed so much. We’ve evolved into a better nation and we continue to move towards that more perfect union. So while there were certainly some fire and brimstone last week and we certainly created a stark contrast this week, the importance of the messages that I’m trying to provide to the American people is that we are better together. And this election cycle, we’ll have a chance to decide the fate of this nation and the direction of this nation. And I’m actually very optimistic and excited about where we’re going.
GUTHRIE: Last night featured many black speakers. You were the closer, the headliner. And there really was a concerted effort, it seemed, to reach black voters in particular. As you well know, in the polls, about 8% of black voters support the President. I think it’s 88% for Vice President Biden. How much of an uphill climb is this to try to win back some of those black voters?
SCOTT: Well, it’s always been a challenge, for the last two or three decades, for Republicans to do well in the African-American community. I think our policy positions have been far better than that of the Democrats. We are going to continue to go where we’re not invited to be able to talk to voters in a way that says that we care about and the issues that are important to those voters. From HBCUs to opportunity zones to unemployment issues to workforce participation rate, we’ve addressed some of the major issues that have been sticking points in the past and I’m certainly hopeful that the way that we’ve addressed those issues will resonate with the voters and drive those numbers up. I’m encouraged that we’ll see an increase – we will see an increase in the number of African-Americans voting for the President and the Republican ticket. We’ll see what happens in November, but today I’m pretty optimistic about increasing those numbers.
GUTHRIE: The president went to North Carolina yesterday to open up the convention and spent several minutes railing again against mail-in voting, saying the Democrats are trying to steal the election, that there will be widespread fraud, he’s predicting. And quote, “The only way we lose the election is if it is a rigged election.” Do you agree with that?
SCOTT: I have very – I have a lot of confidence in our electoral process. I’m very confident that we will have fair elections throughout this country. And most of the issues that remain are going to be local issues. Having served in local government, I have a lot of confidence in how we will take care of this election cycle.
GUTHRIE: You know, the President has not missed an opportunity to talk about this mail-in voting. I’m looking – these are just his remarks yesterday. It’s two and a half pages single-spaced, just yesterday on this issue, trying to say that the election is going to be rigged or fraudulent. So you said you have confidence in this voting process. Do you think the President needs to send that message more clearly?
SCOTT: Well, Savannah, you’ll have an opportunity, I hope, to interview the President. I’ll just tell you how I feel about it and what I think most Americans believe, and that is that this process of mail-in ballots will prove to work out just fine. I think every single American should have the right to vote. How we do so is important, that we do so is more important. And I’m going to have confidence that all the moving pieces will actually fit together and we’ll have a very strong, integrity-driven, character-driven election.
GUTHRIE: Senator Tim Scott, the headliner from last night, thank you for your time this morning, sir, we really appreciate it.
SCOTT: Yes, ma’am, you have a great day.
GUTHRIE: You, too.
