Ahead of President Biden’s address to Congress tomorrow, NBC Nightly News spent part of its Tuesday newscast gaslighting the American people about the President’s foreign policy successes in his first 100 days and trying to memory hole former President Trump’s seismic moves around the globe. At one point, they pushed the lie that Trump had never confronted Russia in any way and then lashed out at Israel while protecting Iran.
“President Biden promised to reach out to allies and punish adversaries,” touted fan girl and chief foreign affairs correspondent Andre Mitchell. “What's the record show at the 100-day mark?”
Well, near the top of her report Mitchell boasted that “Biden is confronting the Russian leader, unlike Donald Trump.” She then held up the handful of sanctions he’s put in place and his “warning” to Putin:
Sanctioning Russia for election interference, hacking government agencies and U.S. companies, poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and he's warning Putin against threatening Ukraine. Still, he's invited Putin to a summit in a third country, possibly this summer.
What Mitchell was hoping NBC viewers would forget was the fact Trump had kicked 60 Russian diplomats out of the United States in 2018 after a nerve agent was used against a former Russian spy living in the U.K. And here’s the kicker (pun intended), NBC reported it.
“The U.S. will dismiss 60 Russian diplomats identified by officials as intelligence officers, as well as close Russia's Seattle consulate,” NBC reporter Ali Vitali wrote at the time. “These steps, a senior Trump administration official told reporters on the condition of anonymity Monday morning, were intended to let the Russian government know that ‘when you attack our friends, you will face serious consequences.’”
Then there’s the $4.75 billion arms deal Trump struck with Poland to deploy a missile defense system, which Russia had opposed to for years. President Obama and Vice President Biden had refused to make the deal for fear of upsetting Russia, they also sat back as Russia annexed Crimea.
The arms deal was just one of the boosts Trump had given to NATO allies. And his demand that other NATO countries contribute more to their mutual defense had led to greater investments and stronger security against Russian aggression.
Further in her report, Mitchell lashed out at Israel for what she described as their attempt to “sabotage” Biden’s work on reinstituting the nuclear deal with Iran. “The President kept his promises to rejoin the Paris climate accord and start indirect talks to rejoin and strengthen the Iran nuclear deal. Talks almost sabotaged when Iran's main nuclear facility was attacked, the U.S. believes by Israel,” she huffed.
And with a smirk on her face, Mitchell invited national security adviser Jake Sullivan to knock Israel in an interview:
MITCHELL: Would you prefer if no one were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities while you're trying to get negotiations started?
SULLIVAN: We certainly believe that are certain kinds of activities that are unhelpful to diplomacy.
Meanwhile, Mitchell failed to mention that it was Iran who was trying to sabotage the negotiations with hostile actions against U.S. Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf earlier in the day. NBC instead relegated it to their website.
“A U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots near three Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps boats in the Persian Gulf after the vessels approached at close range and ignored repeated appeals to pull back, the Navy said Tuesday,” they reported.
But to keep up the illusion of being objective, Mitchell did have to ding him a bit. “Where has he fallen short,” she rhetorically asked. “He lifted the Trump Muslim ban but so far has broken his promise to let in more legally vetted refugees than his predecessor.”
NBC’s gaslighting and memory hole was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships and from GEICO and Liberty Mutual. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
April 27, 2021
7:11:42 p.m. Eastern [2 minutes 21 seconds]LESTER HOLT: And with that, let's turn our look at President Biden's first 100 days and where he stands tonight on some of the biggest foreign policy challenges he faces. Among them, Russia, China, and Iran. Here's Andrea Mitchell.
[Cuts to video]
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President.
ANDREA MITCHELL: President Biden promised to reach out to allies and punish adversaries.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Good afternoon.
MITCHELL: What's the record show at the 100-day mark? As protesters challenge Vladimir Putin at home, Biden is confronting the Russian leader, unlike Donald Trump. Sanctioning Russia for election interference, hacking government agencies and U.S. companies, poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and he's warning Putin against threatening Ukraine. Still, he's invited Putin to a summit in a third country, possibly this summer.
MICHAEL MCFAUL (international affairs analyst): He's testing the Biden administration, and then he gets rewarded by having a summit. And so that, I think, encourages belligerent behavior.
MITCHELL: But an aggressive China is a bigger long-term threat, its warships threatening Taiwan and other U.S. allies, committing genocide against the Muslim Uighurs, and crushing democracy in Hong Kong.
JAKE SULLIVAN (Nat. Sec. Adviser): China is the most significant strategic challenge facing the United States. It is a country that is growing in economic clout. It is advancing its military capabilities, and it's acting in increasingly aggressive and assertive ways.
MITCHELL: The President kept his promises to rejoin the Paris climate accord and start indirect talks to rejoin and strengthen the Iran nuclear deal. Talks almost sabotaged when Iran's main nuclear facility was attacked, the U.S. believes by Israel.
Would you prefer if no one were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities while you're trying to get negotiations started?
SULLIVAN: We certainly believe that are certain kinds of activities that are unhelpful to diplomacy.
MITCHELL: The President's biggest decision so far, starting the withdrawal from Afghanistan, overruling his own generals.
Where has he fallen short? He lifted the Trump Muslim ban but so far has broken his promise to let in more legally vetted refugees than his predecessor.
[Cuts back to live]
And while sanctioning Saudi Arabia for murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the President failed to punish the Saudi crown prince, who the CIA says was responsible. Another example where President Biden is balancing his promises versus the reality of foreign policy. Lester.
HOLT: Okay. Andrea, thank you.
