Appearing on Friday’s NBC Today, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd hyped the birther attacks on Ted Cruz as damaging to the Texas Senator’s campaign: “...it has unnerved Cruz. You saw him. What got him to attack Trump? He avoided it for six months....This has rattled him. We're now on day seven where every day he has had to answer questions about this.”
That declaration was prompted by co-host Savannah Guthrie wondering: “What about the eligibility question for Cruz? Did Cruz end it? Is it over or is this still gonna float out there and be a potent issue for Trump?” Todd asserted: “No, it’s still out there because we now have reports that somebody has actually filed the first lawsuit....So, no, I don't think it's going away.”
On ABC’s Good Morning America, correspondent Jon Karl touted:
...and even that exchange on Cruz's citizenship. You could argue that Cruz won the exchange but look what they were debating...They were debating whether or not Ted Cruz is eligible to be president. That's a debate that Donald Trump wants to have. It's certainly not a debate that Ted Cruz wants to have.
On CBS This Morning, correspondent Major Garrett proclaimed: “Birtherism, prime time Republican style.”
All three networks similarly promoted the false attacks on Cruz on January 7, despite having repeatedly condemned identical attacks on President Obama.
The CBS morning show also highlighted a nasty New York Daily News attack on Cruz, with co-host Norah O’Donnell noting: “Ted Cruz made his strongest attack yet on Donald Trump in the latest Republican presidential debate, he accused the frontrunner of acting like a socially liberal New Yorker focused on money and the media. Well, that led to this attack by the New York Daily News, with the deadline, ‘Drop Dead, Ted.’”
An image of the offensive cover appeared on screen, though a portion of it had to be blurred out because it depicted the Statue of Liberty giving Cruz the middle finger.
Before Thursday night’s Republican debate, the networks eagerly jumped on a hit piece against Cruz in The New York Times.
Here is a full transcript of Todd’s January 15 appearance on Today:
7:06 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Chuck Todd, NBC's political director and moderator of Meet the Press, is here. Up late, up early with us.
CHUCK TODD: That's what we all do now.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: GOP Debate Winners & Losers; Which Candidate Helped Themselves the Most?]
GUTHRIE: This seems like, more and more, a Trump and Cruz race.
TODD: It is, and I thought last night what was interesting is that – I'll throw Rubio in there – I feel like those three, it felt like they had the debate. And Jeb Bush and Christie tried to get involved, but you could really feel the top tier there. Because if you look at it, the three of them all had some moments. I thought Cruz did really well in the first part of the debate, Rubio did really well in the last part of the debate. But Trump, not many people came after him, other than Cruz, and he actually had good moments. This was his best debate performance to date. I don't think you could say he won, but I might argue that because he was touched the least that he's overall gonna gain the most.
CARSON DALY: He did seem to get booed a couple of times. Do you think that was unsettling to him?
TODD: Well, it did at first. And I think the crowd – you know, it's interesting, if it wasn't for the crowd, I don't know if Ted Cruz would be seen to have done as well. That crowd was, to me...
GUTHRIE: They were with Cruz.
TODD: ...very pro-Cruz. That helped him early. You could sort of see he sort of fed off of it a little bit. But Trump, I thought it rattled him early, but then he sort of got comfortable with the idea that, “Okay, this crowd’s not for me, I’ll handle it.”
DALY: What about Cruz, brings up the New York issue? Papers are all over him today. That must have been a blow to him from Trump.
TODD: Well, it is, I think – you know, look, it may not hurt him in Iowa. You know, my late father, he grew up in Iowa, and he would say, “Oh, those New Yorkers, they think they’re better than us.” So that can actually help Cruz in a place like Iowa. But I think having this intensity, and the way Donald Trump handled it, I have to say that was one of those, you’re like, “This is a guy who’s growing as a candidate. That answer on 9/11, and he did it without sort of an in-your-face aspect to it.
GUTHRIE: Taking the high road...
TODD: He did.
GUTHRIE: ...when given the opportunity to counterpunch on Nikki Haley.
TODD: On Nikki Haley, too.
GUTHRIE: What about the eligibility question for Cruz? Did Cruz end it? Is it over or is this still gonna float out there and be a potent issue for Trump?
TODD: No, it’s still out there because we now have reports that somebody has actually filed the first lawsuit. So this has just – look, it has – it has unnerved Cruz. You saw him. What got him to attack Trump? He avoided it for six months. What got – this. This has rattled him. We're now on day seven where every day he has had to answer questions about this. So, no, I don't think it's going away.
GUTHRIE: Alright, Chuck Todd, thank you very much.
DALY: Thanks, Chuck.
