ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news shows all led into the impending arrival of Hurricane Milton by promoting President Biden and Vice President Harris trashing Donald Trump for spreading hurricane "misinformation." Only NBC allowed the view that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might not be doing a stellar job after Hurricane Helene.
ABC's World News Tonight sounded more like "KJP News." They ran a fifty-second soundbite of Biden ripping Trump as "un-American," when soundbites are typically less than ten. There was no clip of anyone else. Then anchor David Muir turned to KJP clone Mary Bruce to repeat the messaging for more emphasis:
MUIR: Mary, President Biden calling these lies un-American.
MARY BRUCE: David, he says the claims are reckless, ridiculous, and it has to stop. And, tonight, he’s trying to set the record straight and get the truth across. He is urging those in Milton’s path to follow the advice of local officials, to listen to them and to follow all of the safety guidelines and information. And the President is making it clear they are surging resources to the area. There are thousands of federal responders, he says, on the ground poised to help. The President speaking directly to the American people, saying, we have your back, than he and the Vice President will be there for as long as it takes, David.
CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell had the same spin: "President Biden is not pulling any punches today, calling out what he says is reckless and harmful disinformation about the federal government’s hurricane response, and he has made it clear, he blames former President Trump, today calling his lies un-American."
Reporter Nikole Killion aired a clip of Trump saying, "You know where they gave the money? To illegal immigrants coming in." She said "But even before Trump set foot in his home town, Biden fact-checked the former President." Biden said "Former President Trump has led this onslaught of lies."
Then Killion turned to Trump supporters in MAGA gear who said FEMA is giving money to settling illegal aliens (true), and Killion told them "You believe those claims, even though FEMA has said they’re not true." FEMA disaster-relief money wasn't diverted to illegal aliens, but FEMA is spending a lot of money on "emergency" support for them.
Killion added "Vice President Harris called the misinformation dangerous." From a phone interview Harris had with CNN: "It is unconscionable, frankly, that anyone who would consider themselves a leader would mislead desperate people."
Earlier, O'Donnell pressed Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) "I noticed you mentioned you have been in touch with President Biden, that those conversations have been constructive. Just a short time ago, President Biden, from the White House, denounced what he called this onslaught of misinformation. He said it’s reckless. He said the lies that are out there are un-American. Are you also concerned that some of these lies, this misinformation, is undermining confidence in the relief efforts?"
DeSantis didn't address those claims, only noting no one would have their house taken away from them in his state.
NBC Nightly News reran their fact-checking from the previous night. They had brief snippets of Biden attacks, followed by Harris from the Stephen Colbert show: "And it’s crude. Have you no empathy, man? No, I — for the suffering of other people."
At least reporter Gabe Gutierrez featured clips of Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) from CNBC's Squawk Box. He denounced false rumors about FEMA, but he said there were "legitimate questions" about FEMA's response: "It was more than three days before we ever saw the first folks in here from FEMA."