On Monday, President Trump called out the racist hate groups involved in Saturday’s chaos in Charlottesville, Virginia. In addition to calling them “evil” and “repugnant,” Trump said: “Those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups.” This full throated denouncement was exactly what the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) craved from the President, but now that they had it, they shifted their attacks to: “What took him so long?”
“President Trump finally finds the words to condemn white supremacists two days after facing an intense bipartisan backlash for blaming quote “all sides” for the violent unrest in Charlottesville,” sneered Anchor Lester Holt during the opening tease of NBC Nightly News. Soon thereafter, Holt called Trump’s first remarks “tone deaf” and then mocked him for trying “today to find the right notes.”
During NBC’s first report of the evening, Chief White House Correspondent Hallie Jackson touted the attacks from his detractors. “’Too little too late,’ his critics say, with the CEO of Merck, Ken Frazier, quitting the President's manufacturing council as a matter of personal conscience.’” She hyped.
“The President sees the alt-right and white supremacists and all that crew as part of his base. His view: ‘Pull and keep as many of those voters as I can,’” failed former GOP Chair Michael Steele told Jackson.
ABC Senior White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega began her report on World News Tonight by saying: “Nearly 48 hours after that car plowed into pedestrians on the streets of Charlottesville, President Trump today finally stepping before the cameras to give that hate a name.” Then adding: “Under fire all weekend, it started, not with what he said, but what he didn't say.”
The network’s sensationalist anchor, David Muir kicked off the program by announcing that “we begin with President Trump, aware of the increasing pressure, coming before the cameras today at the White House and for the first time since Saturday condemning hate groups by name.”
During CBS Evening News, White House Correspondent Major Garrett turned the snark up to 11 when he chastised Trump. “The leader of the free world, President Trump, was behind his daughter, Attorney General and Vice President in denouncing white supremacists and neo-Nazis by name,” he chided.
Garrett also pretended that leftist counter protesters didn’t do anything violent during Saturday’s clashes, not that it justified the car attack. “On Saturday, the President implied counter-protesters and armed shield-wielding white supremacists were equally to blame,” he said.
“That initial equivocation echoed ways in which Mr. Trump has played to racially motivated segments of American politics,” Garrett added.
Trump’s latest and most refined condemnation of the violence in Charlottesville was exactly what they had been begging for him to do. But not that they got it from him, they moved the goal post and bemoaned how it wasn’t good enough.
Transcript below:
NBC Nightly News
August 14, 2017
7:00:31 PM Easter [Tease]LESTER HOLT: Tonight: “Racism is evil.” President Trump finally finds the words to condemn white supremacists two days after facing an intense bipartisan backlash for blaming quote “all sides” for the violent unrest in Charlottesville.
7:01:33 PM Eastern
HOLT: Good evening. And thank you for being with us tonight. After what to many came off as a tone deaf response to this weekend's racist-fueled violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Trump tried today to find the right notes as he took to the podium again to address the tragedy. This time calling out the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists by name for sowing the seeds of hate that blossomed into bloodshed on a Charlottesville street Saturday, when a car driven into a crowd left a young woman dead and more than a dozen others injured.
It was part of a horrific day that also saw two officers killed in a helicopter accident. Tonight the President's words and actions under scrutiny as he faces a major test of moral leadership. Our Chief White House Correspondent Hallie Jackson has the latest.
[Cuts to video]
HALLIE JACKSON: President Trump today delivering the message many wanted sooner.
DONALD TRUMP: Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups.
JACKSON: In unscheduled remarks, the President explicitly condemning those groups after he didn't on Saturday, triggering an onslaught of outrage in these last 48 hours.
TRUMP: To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend's racist violence, you will be held fully accountable.
JACKSON: “Too little too late,” his critics say, with the CEO of Merck, Ken Frazier, quitting the President's manufacturing council as “a matter of personal conscience.” The President attacked Frazier on Twitter within minutes. His response to Charlottesville took longer to evolve. Saturday an initial response seemed to spread the blame.
…
MICHAEL STEELE: The President sees the alt-right and white supremacists and all that crew as part of his base. His view: “Pull and keep as many of those voters as I can.”
…
...
CBS Evening News
August 14, 2017
6:32:05 PM EasternANTHONY MASON: Today, two days after this domestic terror attack, and after meeting with the attorney general and the F.B.I. director, the President finally condemned the hate groups by name.
…
MASON: The President took a lot of heat for failing to call out white supremacists immediately after the attack. Now the job of his chief political strategist appears to be in jeopardy. Major Garrett is at the White House with more on that. Major?
…
MAJOR GARRETT: The leader of the free world, President Trump, was behind his daughter, Attorney General and Vice President in denouncing white supremacists and neo-Nazis by name. On Saturday, the President implied counter-protesters and armed shield-wielding white supremacists were equally to blame.
…
GARRETT: That initial equivocation echoed ways in which Mr. Trump has played to racially motivated segments of American politics, starting with his five-year advocacy of the birther movement that questioned whether President Obama was born in the U.S. Mr. Trump has also been slow to denounce Ku Klux Klan figures like David duke as he was in February of 2016.
…
