Throughout special election coverage on Wednesday, partisan NBC journalists bitterly complained that the Democrats had failed to achieve a “moral victory” in Tuesday’s election or a definitive “repudiation” of President Trump. Network correspondents and pundits even admitted that if Joe Biden were to win the presidency, he would be “weakened” and “deeply damaged” by the race being so close.
“President Trump and his politics are not going away. They are here to stay,” correspondent Peter Alexander warned early in the 9:00 a.m. ET hour, regardless of the ultimate winner of the election. He then parroted Democratic Party disappointment:
While Democrats were really looking for a repudiation of President Trump and the type of politics that they say he stands for, they didn’t get that. They wanted a moral victory, not just a political victory. They may get the political victory, but the moral victory doesn’t appear that it’s going to come right now.
Later that hour, anchor Craig Melvin pressed Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey on the razor-thin presidential contest:
I mean, with all due respect, there had been some talk up until last night that Democrats were going to put Texas in play. Not going to happen. That Democrats may be able to put Florida back in play. That’s not going to happen. It looks as if there was significant slipping with the Hispanic vote in Florida, specifically south Florida and Texas as well. What happened last night?...What happened to Democrats last night? Again, with all due respect. Well, I mean, the President of the United States historically unpopular, his job approval somewhere around 46, 47, and it’s this close.
Appearing in the 10:00 a.m. ET hour, National Review editor Rich Lowry wasn’t shy about explaining how weak Biden would be if he were to win: “...he will come in as perhaps the weakest newly elected president in memory. He’ll have zero chance to do any major legislative initiatives, all of the court packing, adding states, all that’s off – totally impossible....he’d be legislatively neutered pretty much from the beginning and have no mandate at the outset.”
Finally, during continuing special coverage in the 2:00 p.m. ET hour, Nightly News anchor Lester Holt fretted to Washington Post White House correspondent Ashley Parker: “The other option of course is that Joe Biden wins but is damaged during this lame duck period in which the President still has the bully pulpit.”
Parker agreed, and like Lowry, pointed out that a Biden presidency would be crippled right out of the gate:
You have Joe Biden coming in weakened. For the Democrats who were hoping that last night would be a grand repudiation of Trumpism, that certainly did not happen. There is a nation as divided and riven with partisanship and distrust for each other as ever. You’re gonna have Joe Biden, again if he wins, coming in with the former President of the United States, who still commands a very loyal following with at least about half of the country roughly, saying that it was stolen and that he’s not the legitimate president. And you have a Republican-controlled Senate. So a Biden win, I don’t want to say it’s a Pyrrhic victory, people – Democrats want Biden to win of course, but he does emerge, in a Democratic best case scenario, deeply, deeply damaged and going to be further undermined by Donald Trump just about everyday.
The lamentations coming from the left-wing press show how deeply embedded they are in the Democratic Party. They just can’t believe that Trump and Republicans could possibly have so much support from the American people.
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Here are excerpts of the November 4 coverage:
9:09 AM ET
(...)
PETER ALEXANDER: The biggest takeaway, I think, from last night is the following. First of all, the President certainly over-performed what he did four years ago. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump had more voters for them than they did four years ago. The President and his team were successful in finding more of those rural voters. But the biggest takeaway beyond that perhaps, as we go to 35,000 feet is, no matter what happens here, Craig and Sheinelle, the President, President Trump and his politics are not going away. They are here to stay. While Democrats were really looking for a repudiation of President Trump and the type of politics that they say he stands for, they didn’t get that. They wanted a moral victory, not just a political victory. They may get the political victory, but the moral victory doesn’t appear that it’s going to come right now. So many deep divisions between men and women, urban and rural in this country, and those with college degrees and those without. Craig and Sheinelle?
SHEINELLE JONES: And it’s reality at this point for sure.
(...)
9:37 AM ET
CRAIG MELVIN: Senator, really quickly here, I mean, with all due respect, there had been some talk up until last night that Democrats were going to put Texas in play. Not going to happen. That Democrats may be able to put Florida back in play. That’s not going to happen. It looks as if there was significant slipping with the Hispanic vote in Florida, specifically south Florida and Texas as well. What happened last night?
SEN. BOB CASEY [D-PA]: Well, look, I can’t profess to know what happened in Florida and Texas. I don’t know those states like I know Pennsylvania. But I think there will be time to analyze whether or not –
MELVIN: But what happened to Democrats last night?
CASEY: What’s that?
MELVIN: What happened to Democrats last night? Again, with all due respect. Well, I mean, the President of the United States historically unpopular, his job approval somewhere around 46, 47, and it’s this close.
CASEY: Well, number one is Joe Biden is going to win Pennsylvania and he’s going to win the presidency. So Donald Trump will be defeated. But we can analyze how, you know, what, why, what candidate got a certain percent of the vote versus the other, but Joe Biden’s going to win the presidency.
SHEINELLE JONES: And to Craig’s point here, I think the bottom line is that this isn’t a landslide, no matter how you cut it.
(...)
10:46 AM ET
RICH LOWRY: If I just make a broad point though about the contours of this, it seems likely that Republicans are gonna hold the Senate, we don’t know that yet either. But if they do, and Joe Biden wins the presidency, he will come in as perhaps the weakest newly elected president in memory. He’ll have zero chance to do any major legislative initiatives, all of the court packing, adding states, all that’s off – totally impossible. And he’ll basically be able to make unifying rhetorical statements do some executive actions, but otherwise he’d be legislatively neutered pretty much from the beginning and have no mandate at the outset.
GUTHRIE: Yeah, it’ll be divided government for sure, it’s not the mandate of the landslide that Democrats were fantasizing about, nor is it, at this hour, looking like it’s gonna be a sweep of the Senate where suddenly Democrats have control of both branches of Congress as well.
(...)
2:55 PM ET
LESTER HOLT: And Ashley, a couple of things can happen here. That the President finds his path to victory and wins this thing, and then with all of those complaints in the background. The other option of course is that Joe Biden wins but is damaged during this lame duck period in which the President still has the bully pulpit.
ASHLEY PARKER: Well, that’s exactly right. I mean, the President’s only goal is to win. The President is not so much thinking about a post-Trump world where he has lost, he’s not president but what does that mean for Republicanism writ large and Joe Biden. But there are a number of Republicans who frankly feel that even if Trump does not pull this out, it’s exactly what you said, this is, on the whole, a victory for him. You have Joe Biden coming in weakened. For the Democrats who were hoping that last night would be a grand repudiation of Trumpism, that certainly did not happen. There is a nation as divided and riven with partisanship and distrust for each other as ever. You’re gonna have Joe Biden, again if he wins, coming in with the former President of the United States, who still commands a very loyal following with at least about half of the country roughly, saying that it was stolen and that he’s not the legitimate president. And you have a Republican-controlled Senate. So a Biden win, I don’t want to say it’s a Pyrrhic victory, people – Democrats want Biden to win of course, but he does emerge, in a Democratic best case scenario, deeply, deeply damaged and going to be further undermined by Donald Trump just about everyday.
(...)
