There was tremendously positive news on the economic front on Thursday as the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rebound 33.1 percent, following the massive shutdowns that crippled the economy earlier in the pandemic. But with Election Day just days away, the opposition media desperately needed to squash that good news, push the narrative that country was in a tailspin, and somehow assert President Trump was responsible for the downturn and not the virus.
The reporting on ABC’s World News Tonight started out fair enough, with chief White House correspondent Jon Karl admitting “the President had something worth boasting about” with the GDA rebound.
“A new report shows the economy grew at a record 33.1 percent in the third quarter, as the country began recovering from the even steeper losses triggered by the COVID-19 shutdown,” he reported.
But after playing a soundbite of the President boasting about the figures at a campaign rally in Florida, Karl tried to dump cold water on the good news and highlighted Democratic nominee Joe Biden bashing Trump at his own, smaller Florida rally:
KARL: But there's another big number for the United States today. More than 85,000 new COVID cases in a single day. And the nation's jobs crisis is far from over. 751,000 Americans filed for unemployment just last week. Biden told Floridians there's only one way to turn things around, get control of the pandemic.
BIDEN: Millions of people out there are out of work, on the edge, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Donald Trump has given up.
Every network relied on soundbites of Biden to essentially be their fact-checks of the President’s trumpeting of the GDP.
“Meanwhile, Biden held a smaller, more socially distanced event; where he addressed the President's boasts about the record GDP number announced this morning,” touted political correspondent Ed O’Keefe, who has basically been auditioning for a spot in a Biden administration, on the CBS Evening News.
He added: “But the record growth in the third quarter still hasn't brought the economy back to its pre-pandemic highs and many economists argue it won't in the pandemic recession.”
Even though the economy was shut down because of the pandemic, and despite the fact Biden was for shutdowns, O’Keefe showed off a clip of Biden blaming Trump exclusively for the downturn: “When Barack and I left office, we left Donald Trump with a strong economy, stronger than the one he handled. And just like everything else he inherited, he blew it. Now he’s squandering that economy. Like he squandered everything else.”
Of course, there was no mention of the three years of a roaring economy before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, on NBC Nightly News, it was much of the same with business and tech correspondent Jo Ling Kent using Biden’s bashing and actively trying to downplay the economic rally.
“GDP, which measures economic activity, did grow a record 33 percent from July to September. However, the U.S. economy still has not bounced back in full from the huge hit it took during the peak of the shutdowns,” she griped as if the President was wrong to tout it. “And while unemployment claims have come down from record highs they're still nearly triple what they were pre-pandemic.”
The networks’ coordinated effort to dismiss the economic rally ahead of the election was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Bayer on ABC, Facebook on CBS, and Tylenol on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding. CBS Evening News has also asked people to text their thought to anchor Norah O’Donnell at this number: (202) 217-1107.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
October 29, 2020
6:34:02 p.m. Eastern(…)
JON KARL: Today, the President had something worth boasting about. A new report shows the economy grew at a record 33.1 percent in the third quarter, as the country began recovering from the even steeper losses triggered by the COVID-19 shutdown.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They say talk about your economic success. Talk about 33.1 percent, the greatest in history. Now, look, if I do, I mean, how many times can I say it? I'll say it five or six times during the speech, 33.1.
KARL: But there's another big number for the United States today. More than 85,000 new COVID cases in a single day. And the nation's jobs crisis is far from over. 751,000 Americans filed for unemployment just last week. Biden told Floridians there's only one way to turn things around, get control of the pandemic.
JOE BIDEN: Millions of people out there are out of work, on the edge, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Donald Trump has given up.
(…)
CBS Evening News
October 29, 2020
6:36:38: p.m. Eastern(…)
ED O’KEEFE: Meanwhile, Biden held a smaller, more socially distanced event; where he addressed the President's boasts about the record GDP number announced this morning.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nobody has ever seen a number like this.
O’KEEFE: But the record growth in the third quarter still hasn't brought the economy back to its pre-pandemic highs and many economists argue it won't in the pandemic recession.
JOE BIDEN: When Barack and I left office, we left Donald Trump with a strong economy, stronger than the one he handled. And just like everything else he inherited, he blew it. Now he’s squandering that economy. Like he squandered everything else.
(…)
NBC Nightly News
October 29, 2020
7:14:28 p.m. Eastern(…)
JO LING KENT: And today, on the campaign trail --
JOE BIDEN: We left Donald Trump a strong economy. [Transition] Just like everything else he inherited, he blew it.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You see the number today? 33.1 GDP, the biggest in the history of our country by almost triple.
KENT: GDP, which measures economic activity, did grow a record 33 percent from July to September. However, the U.S. economy still has not bounced back in full from the huge hit it took during the peak of the shutdowns.
And while unemployment claims have come down from record highs they're still nearly triple what they were pre-pandemic.
The colosseum here in Los Angeles holds more than 77,000 people. Currently, over 22 million people are unemployed. That is the equivalent of nearly 300 of these stadiums full of people looking for a job.
(…)
