All the networks in the “big three” praised President Obama, during their evening shows on Tuesday, for taking the presumptive GOP nominee to task on how to fight the War on Terror. They all talked about Obama’s takedown in glowing terms, while pointing out how Donald Trump’s strategy breeds hate. NBC even saluted the Democratic Party for putting Obama and Hillary Clinton together to fight Trump.
Kicking off his report on World News Tonight ABC’s Jon Karl stated, “Today, an impassioned President Obama sought to dismantle and discredit Donald Trump's entire approach to fighting terrorism.” Karl even praised Obama for who he had standing behind him, General Joseph F. Dunford, “In an unprecedented move, he had the nation's top military official by his side as he labeled Trump's ideas un-American.”
“The sharp rebuke coming at almost the same time as Hillary Clinton delivered her own shots today, at times sounding like they were reading from the same script,” applauded NBC’s Kristen Welker on Nightly News, “The tag team, a preview of the onslaught Trump is facing in the fall.”
Welker also interviewed Bloomberg’s John Heilemann to share his admiration for the potent Obama/Hillary combination, “Having them on the same side, on the same team, and very much in sync in terms of messaging, gives the Democratic side a one-two punch.”
On CBS’s Evening News reporter Margaret Brennan also got in on the action. “A passionate president Obama ripped into Donald Trump warning that his rhetoric feeds hate,” she continued, “The president also slammed critics who demand he use the term can the “radical Islam" when referring to terrorists.” In addition, Brennan’s report failed to have a single soundbite of Trump, but four of Obama.
In contrast, Spanish-language network Telemundo had a more balanced report on the Obama/Trump feud. Anchor Jose Diaz-Balart started off by saying, “the complaints of those who consider that President Barack Obama is not doing enough to combat terrorism have increased.” They even brought on Juan Carlos Hidalgo from the libertarian CATO Institute who admitted that a religious terrorist group is at war with us. Univision on the other hand also hyped Obama’s smack down.
Partial transcripts below:
ABC
World News Tonight
June 14, 2016
6:39:20 PM EasternDAVID MUIR: Next, this evening, to the fallout from this terror, and the race for the White House. Tonight, President Obama blasting Donald Trump in a way we have not heard yet. Late today, Trump responding. And it comes amid a new poll just out tonight. And we should note that some of this polling is from after the attack. It spokes Hillary Clinton now with a 12-point lead over Donald Trump in a head-to-head match-up. Clinton now at 49 percent, Trump, 37 percent. ABC's Jonathan Karl with the president's angry words today, and Trump's fiery response tonight.
[Cuts to video]
JON KARL: Today, an impassioned President Obama sought to dismantle and discredit Donald Trump's entire approach to fighting terrorism.
OBAMA: If we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush, and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists' work for them.
KARL: In an unprecedented move, he had the nation's top military official by his side as he labeled Trump's ideas un-American.
...
...
NBC
Nightly News
June 14, 2016
7:07:50 PM Eastern...
WELKER: The sharp rebuke coming at almost the same time as Hillary Clinton delivered her own shots today, at times sounding like they were reading from the same script.
OBAMA: So there's no magic to the phrase radical Islam.
HILLARY CLINTON: Is Donald Trump suggesting that there are magic words that once uttered will stop terrorists from coming after us?
WELKER: Clinton also defending her former boss after this Trump suggestion about the president's reaction to the Orlando attack.
TRUMP: There were a lot of people who think maybe he doesn't want to get it. A lot of people think maybe he doesn't want to know about it.
CLINTON: He went on TV and suggested that President Obama is on the side of the terrorists.
WELKER: The tag team, a preview of the onslaught Trump is facing in the fall.
JOHN HEILEMANN: Having them on the same side, on the same team, and very much in sync in terms of messaging, gives the Democratic side a one-two punch.
...
...
CBS
Evening News
June 14, 2016
6:39:02 PM EasternSCOTT PELLEY: Today, the president joined the political debate around the shooting, and Margaret Brennan is at the White House.
[Cuts to video]
BARACK OBAMA: It won't make us more safe. It will make us less safe, fueling ISIL's notion that the west hates Muslims.
MARGARET BRENNAN: A passionate president Obama ripped into Donald Trump warning that his rhetoric feeds hate.
OBAMA: We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer, they were all U.S. Citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Because that's not the America we want.
BRENNAN: That divisiveness hurts the US War against terrorists, he argued, and betrays American values.
OBAMA: And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect, the very things that make this country great, the very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won, and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen.
BRENNAN: The president also slammed critics who demand he use the term can the “radical Islam" when referring to terrorists.
...
...
TELEMUNDO
NOTICIERO TELEMUNDO
6/14/16
6:39:17 PMJOSE DIAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: The question is, what will the government do now to prevent more attacks? Due to the massacre, the complaints of those who consider that President Barack Obama is not doing enough to combat terrorism have increased. Today, the mandatary responded to the criticism and rejected that prohibiting the entrance of Muslims to the country as proposed by Donald Trump is the solution. Lori Montenegro informs us.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: President Barack Obama did not try to hide his ire.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: [in English] So there’s no magic to the phrase “radical Islam”…
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: With the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, whom he did not mention by name when he rejected the criticisms launched by the mogul, because President Obama has refused to use the phrase “radical Islam” to describe the fight against terrorism.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: [in English] And to imply that we are at war with an entire religion?
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: [Translating Obama’s remarks] “Implying that we are at war with a religion is doing the work of extremists for them that use that rhetoric to recruit new members,” said the mandatary.
JUAN CARLOS HIDALGO, CATO INSTITUTE: Certainly it is part of the game of some sectors, principally in the right, but again, we cannot deny that there are terrorist groups out there that using Islam are trying to recruit people.
…
...
UNIVISION
NOTICIERO UNIVISION
6/14/16
6:50:06 PMJORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: President Barack Obama responded firmly, but without naming him, to Donald Trump, who asked for his resignation for failing to note the massacre in Orlando as an act of Islamic radicalism. Obama also references the immigration proposals of Trump, which, according to him [Obama], are dangerous and it’s not what Americans want. Janet Rodriguez is at the White House.
JANET RODRIGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: President Obama did not mention Donald Trump by name, sharp and angry, he attacked the tycoon.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: [in English] We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee…
JANET RODRIGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: [Translating Obama’s remarks] “We have a virtual Republican nominee to the presidency who wants to prohibit the entrance of Muslims to the country, who suggests that an entire religion is complicit in the violence. Where are we going to stop with this?” reclaimed the President. Obama today tried to defend himself to Trump’s criticisms for refusing to describe the Orlando massacre as an act of radical Islamic terrorism.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: [in English] What exactly would using this label…
JANET RODRIGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: [Translating Obama’s remarks] “What do we accomplish by using that phrase? What do we win? Calling a threat by another name does not eliminate it. It’s only a political distraction,” he said.
JANET RODRIGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Hillary Clinton, however, says she is not inconvenienced by using the phrase.
STEPHEN DONAHOO, MILITARY ANALYST: I understand the point of the President to not identify Muslims as the bad guys, because they’re not. But there’s no doubt either that the vast majority of the casualties that we’ve suffered in the United States recently have been by Muslims who have become extremists.
JANET RODRIGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Trump, who asked for Obama’s resignation on Sunday if he didn’t use the phrase “radical Islamic terror”, today told the Associated Press that the President “affirms to know our enemy, however he continues making our enemy a priority over our allies, even more over Americans…”
JO ANN CHASE, TRUMP SUPPORTER: The whole intention of those comments and the policies of his [Trump’s] campaign is for protecting citizens, all the citizens of the American nation.
JANET RODRIGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: The Republican National Committee added itself to the criticisms saying that “Democrats want to talk about anything else because they’ve already lost the debate about national security.” A national security debate that has turned into a battle of words. But amidst the rhetoric and the word fight, analysts alert does not face the continuing challenge of identifying and stopping these lone wolves before they attack.
