One day after hyping the “re-energized” Hillary Clinton and her “impregnable lead” on Democrat Bernie Sanders, the networks on Tuesday switched parties and similarly touted Donald Trump’s “unstoppable” momentum in the Republican primaries. CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose wondered, “But is Trump becoming unstoppable and therefore the party either does something now or it's too late?”
In an earlier segment, CBS reporter Dean Reynolds began his report from Nevada by declaring, “The three candidates here have been hurling accusations and insults with such ferocity it could make you think they're all fighting for first place. But apparently, only one has a realistic shot.”
Over on NBC’s Today, Peter Alexander basically declared the Republican nomination over: “It's starting to sound like its own Vegas act. Trump, the inevitable.”
Good Morning America’s Tom Llamas similarly turned into a prognosticator: “It is caucus day here in Nevada and if the GOP wants a brawler in the White House, they may get it with Donald Trump.”
This rush to declare the Republican primaries over is similar to the crowning of Hillary Clinton. On Monday’s GMA, George Stephanopoulos cheered, “That path for Hillary Clinton with South Carolina and Super Tuesday coming up, she can build up a huge, almost impregnable lead.”
Over on NBC’s Today, Willie Geist trumpeted, “Hillary Clinton hopes to build on her big win over Bernie Sanders in Nevada.” The pro-Hillary trumpeting continued on Monday’s evening shows.
A partial transcript of the CBS This Morning segment is below:
CBS This Morning
2/23/16
7:03:5- 7:08:20DEAN REYNOLDS: Good morning. Well, the three candidates here have been hurling accusations and insults with such ferocity it could make you think they're all fighting for first place. But apparently only one has a realistic shot. Accusations of underhandedness have dogged the Cruz campaign for weeks.
RUBIO: Every single day something comes out of the Cruz campaign that's deceptive and untrue.
REYNOLDS: On Monday he moved quickly to minimize additional fallout.
CRUZ: This morning I asked for Rick Tyler's resignation.
REYNOLDS: Forcing out his communications director after he shared this misleading video on social media, seemingly questioning Marco Rubio's faith.
CRUZ: It turned out the news story he sent around was false. But I’ll tell you, even if it was true, we are not a campaign that's going to question the faith of another candidate.
REYNOLDS: And on the stump the Florida senator stressed his own electability over Trump.
RUBIO: I don't care how much you think they're funny or how interesting they sound, if we nominate someone that 40% to 50% of our party can't stand, we are going to lose.
REYNOLDS: Now, responding to a question last night, Senator Cruz said he would hunt down and deport millions of illegal immigrants and not let them back into this country. It's a direct appeal to the Republican base which he desperately needs to arouse.
CHARLIE ROSE: A lot of specifics and generals. Does all these questions about trust and problems with his campaign spokesman hurt Ted Cruz significantly?
DICKERSON: Well, yes. I mean because it gets in the way of what he's trying to say and he's a little on his heels coming out of South Carolina. That was a state that had an electorate that set up very nicely for Ted Cruz and he still lost by 11 points to Donald Trump. So he needs to do something to change his approach at Donald Trump. Just as he's trying to do that, he's dealing with these accusations. Obviously there's an accumulation of trouble from these accusations or he wouldn't have had to fire his top spokesperson. This isn't just this one-off, it's because there have been a number of accusations.
ROSE: Marco Rubio makes a point in his sound bite there that Donald Trump can't get elected because he only has 30 percent or 40 percent support from the Republican Party. But is Trump becoming unstoppable and therefore the party either does something now or it's too late?
