With the coronavirus relief benefits expiring last Friday, and Democrats and Republicans still in negotiations over what the next round of aid would look like, self-described political referee and NBC political director Chuck Todd showed what a bought off rules enforcer could do during his routine appearance on NBC’s Sunday Today.
In their report about the relief package negotiations just before Todd spoke, White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell portrayed Democratic leaders as ones leading the charge to help struggling Americans:
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This is one of the greatest problems America faces. And we need to meet those needs in a very, very serious way.
O’DONNELL: Talks between senior Democrats and the White House continue through the weekend. Speaker Pelosi sending a letter to colleagues Saturday night: “All parties must understand the gravity of the situation.”
SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): This is not a usual discussion. Because the urgency is so great.
The only soundbite O’Donnell used from the Republican side was this negative sounding quote from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: “We're still a long way apart. And I don't want to suggest that a deal is imminent because it is not.”
Meanwhile, ABC’s Good Morning America had soundbites of Democrats saying almost exactly the same thing. And the media have been refusing to explain that Republicans were only cutting the Democrats' proposed increase in the benefit, not the whole benefit. It's a net increase of $200.
Shortly thereafter, host Willie Geist introduced Todd and wondered if “Congress feels the urgency so many American families like the ones we just saw in Kelly’s piece there, are they reflecting the urgency of the American people on this?”
In his initial answer, Todd suggested “it’s hard to say that they are.” But he caught himself mid-sentence and shifted gears to making the Democratic argument against Republicans, claiming it was “in fairness.”
“Look, in fairness, I don't know if I would lump them all together,” Todd said. “I mean, the Democrats passed a bill a couple months ago. So, I think they would argue that, hey they met the urgency of the moment and they would argue it's the Republicans that haven't met this moment here.”
It’s worth noting that in addition to Todd’s default liberal bent, his pockets get lined with cash from left. As NewsBusters has previously reported, in 2016 he covered-up how his wife’s firm was getting millions from the Bernie Sanders campaign. Before that, she advised the Jim Webb presidential campaign. And in early 2020, Page Six exposed how Todd had rented his Arlington, Virginia house to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
And as he was concluding his Sunday appearance, Todd declared that President Trump had “undermined” the outcome of the 2020 election by showing concerns about voting integrity; calling it “deeply dangerous for the democracy.”
Yet, MSNBC was still claiming the only reason Trump was president was because of Russia.
As someone who had declared himself a political referee, Todd proved not only was he was bought off by one of the teams, but the jersey was sticking out from under the stripes.
This working the audience by the ref was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Colgate and Pampers. Their contact information is linked if want to tell them about what they’re funding. Chuck Todd has also asked people to tweet at him using #OpenQuestions and #MSNBCAnswers.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC’s Sunday Today
August 2, 2020
8:06:24 a.m. EasternWILLIE GEIST: Meanwhile, this morning, tens of millions of Americans are waking up without the $600-a-week federal unemployment benefit that expired on midnight on Friday. The President’s top advisers are working with Congress but struggling to reach a deal this morning. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell is at the White House with more. Kelly, good morning.
KELLY O’DONNELL: Good morning, Willie. Additional talks are already set for today and again tomorrow to deal with these issues that affect so many American lives like enhanced federal unemployment benefits, protections for renters against eviction, funding for schools to reopen safely, and more. And while there is pressure to act quickly, they aren’t there yet.
[Cuts to video]
Progress but no deal yet for out of work Americans in the next COVID relief package.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This is one of the greatest problems America faces. And we need to meet those needs in a very, very serious way.
O’DONNELL: Talks between senior Democrats and the White House continue through the weekend. Speaker Pelosi sending a letter to colleagues Saturday night: “All parties must understand the gravity of the situation.”
SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): This is not a usual discussion. Because the urgency is so great.
O’DONNELL: Among the key issues, extending enhanced unemployment benefits, eviction protection for renters, funding for schools to reopen safely, and liability protection to limit COVID lawsuits.
MARK MEADOWS (White House chief of staff): We're still a long way apart. And I don't want to suggest that a deal is imminent because it is not.
(…)
8:09:18 a.m. Eastern
GEIST: Let's start right there with the coronavirus relief package. 4.6 million cases in this country. A steady climb as we can see through the month of July in deaths in this country as well. Meanwhile, the GDP dropped 33 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, and that $600-a-week unemployment check went away for a lot of Americans at midnight on Friday.
Do you sense Congress feels the urgency so many American families like the ones we just saw in Kelly’s piece there, are they reflecting the urgency of the American people on this?
CHUCK TODD: Look, it's hard to say that they are and it’s hard to say – Look, in fairness, I don't know if I would lump them all together. I mean, the Democrats passed a bill a couple months ago. So, I think they would argue that, hey they met the urgency of the moment and they would argue it's the Republicans that haven't met this moment here.
And that's been part of the problem. As you have a Republican Party that's very much divided on this issue. You have some old philosophical divides that think maybe there's so much spending going on, worried about incentives that this comes in. And then, of course, there's just the President's erratic behavior at times which gums all this up as well.
But let's – You know, I don't know why there is an urgency, Willie. I mean, think about what we learned Thursday. Right? The economy contracted by over 30 percent, and that was with all these benefits. What would the economy have looked like without it? So look, I -- I think in about a week if they haven't done anything, the urgency will be there. I mean, we already have, you know, 10 percent of people saying they don't have enough food in their house. 25 percent of people in one survey said they’ve already missed a rent or mortgage payment. And again, these benefits just expired Friday.
GEIST: Yeah. And those unemployed Americans, tens of millions of them left in the middle with nothing right now.
(…)
