Tuesday was a busy day at the White House as President Trump hosted bipartisan immigration talks, part of which were televised to the public, which no other president had done before. The two sides walked away with a rough framework for what parts of the immigration puzzle they wanted to work on first. But according to ABC’s World News Tonight, the event was staged so that Trump could try to convince people he wasn’t an idiot like Michael Wolff’s gossip book had asserted.
It was a narrative ABC was eager to push right out of the gate. During the show’s opening tease of the segment, sensationalist anchor David Muir declared:
President Trump, just days after the book Fire and Fury, the author claiming White House insiders told him the President does not read, does not listen. Today, the President spending 55 minutes on live television, negotiating on immigration, the dreamers and his wall.
It was a claim Muir repeated a few minutes later when he was leading into the segment about the historic talks.
“Just days after the release of that bombshell book Fire and Fury that claimed some closest to the President have questioned the President’s fitness to lead. An extremely rare event playing out on television today,” Muir announced. “Reporters and cameras invited into a bipartisan meeting on immigration, playing out for 55 minutes on television. Showing America, the President at work.”
If that demeaning narrative wasn’t clear enough, ABC's Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl spelled it out as he began his report. “Today, the President, still dealing with fallout over a book portraying him as dim-witted and unstable, made a dramatic effort to show the opposite,” he opined. “Leading a free-wheeling negotiation between Democrats and Republicans on immigration.”
Karl’s report was basically just a general overview of the talks, with more focus on the future of DACA and the Dreamers than on border security. “Democrats tried to convince the President to deal with the dreamers first, and at times, he seemed to agree...The President also seemed to push for comprehensive immigration reform, something most conservatives and Trump supporters have been dead set against for years,” Karl reported.
“What’s the White House trying to accomplish here,” Muir asked in a very skeptical tone towards the end of the segment. “Well, first of all, David, this was the President's decision. He told his staff that he was going to do it just as they were going into the meeting. It's an effort to show a president that is in charge and able to work with Democrats,” Karl explained.
In contrast, ABC’s network competitors treated the talks as a serious attempt at forwarding policy. CBS was balanced as they stuck to the issues and noted how Trump called for bipartisan reform and how the Democrats kept the door open. NBC, on the other hand, kept to the issues but chided Trump for “taking every contradictory position he’s ever had on immigration.”
Relevant portions of the Transcript below:
ABC
World News Tonight
January 9, 2018
6:30:40 PM Eastern[Opening Tease]
DAVID MUIR: President Trump just days after the book Fire and Fury, the author claiming White House insiders told him the President does not read, does not listen. Today, the President spending 55 minutes on live television, negotiating on immigration, the dreamers and his wall.
(…)
6:34:59 PM Eastern
MUIR: Now, to major developments from the White House. Just days after the release of that bombshell book Fire and Fury that claimed some closest to the President have questioned the President’s fitness to lead. An extremely rare event playing out on television today. Reporters and cameras invited into a bipartisan meeting on immigration, playing out for 55 minutes on television. Showing America, the President at work. ABC's Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl was in the room.
[Cuts to video]
JON KARL: Today, the President, still dealing with fallout over a book portraying him as dim-witted and unstable, made a dramatic effort to show the opposite. Leading a free-wheeling negotiation between Democrats and Republicans on immigration. And, in a White House first, letting it all play out before the television cameras.
DONALD TRUMP: This should be a bill of love, truly, should be a bill of love.
KARL: At issue, the looming March 5th deadline for the so-called Dreamers. Undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children and now could soon face deportation.
(…)
KARL: Everybody in the room seemed to agree on providing legal status to the dreamers, but Republicans insisted that more border security had to be part of the deal. Democrats tried to convince the President to deal with the dreamers first, and at times, he seemed to agree.
(…)
KARL: The President also seemed to push for comprehensive immigration reform, something most conservatives and Trump supporters have been dead set against for years.
(…)
KARL: But the President said it is up to Congress to work out the details, signaling he wants a deal even if it's not a perfect one.
(…)
MUIR: What’s the White House trying to accomplish here?
KARL: Well, first of all, David, this was the President's decision. He told his staff that he was going to do it just as they were going into the meeting. It's an effort to show a president that is in charge and able to work with Democrats, something, David, that he simply has to do now that the Republican majority in the Senate is down to one seat.
(…)
