With no liberal label applied to her, CBS This Morning co-hosts brought on former MSNBC anchor Alex Wagner to attack Republican concerns over voter fraud. Co-host Norah O’Donnell derided GOP worries, saying, “Republicans, for the last six years, have made it harder to vote in person. We now have 34 states that require voters to show some form of identification at the polls.”
She declared, “So, there are so many restrictions already in place to make sure the vote is fair.” Wagner agreed, dismissing, “There are people on both sides of the aisle that recognize the tenor in American politics that is being driven in this particular moment is not a good one in the long term.”
Ignoring examples, co-host Gayle King lectured, “You say voter fraud is nearly zero percent in the United States. Yet, Donald Trump keeps raising it over and over and the effects could be devastating to this country.”
Separate from the actual issues, the journalists at CBS at least could have identified Wagner as an activist liberal. For example, on November 4, 2011, she said of guns, “I think get rid of the second Amendment, the right to bear arms. I just think in the grand scheme of the rights that we have; the right of assembly, free speech, I mean, owning a gun does not, it does not tally on the same level as those other Constitutional rights.”
On February 14, 2013, Wagner smeared the NRA as “racist” and said that the organization’s President, Wayne LaPierre, is afraid of “dark people.”
In June of 2013, she cheerleaded for Hillary Clinton:
“This is, I think, the fifth anniversary of your mother’s ‘shattering the glass ceiling’ speech. Do you think we need — and I’m not naming names — do you think we need a woman in the White House? Do you think America needs to sort of achieve that milestone, being the leader in the globe that we are today?”
— Two of then-MSNBC host Alex Wagner’s questions for Chelsea Clinton on the June 14, 2013 edition of Now with Alex Wagner.
But considering CBS’s financial adviser is an Obama donor and Hillary Clinton supporter, as is co-host King, expecting transparency is probably not reasonable.
A transcript is below:
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CBS This Morning
10/12/16
8:05GAYLE KING: Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that the election process is rigged.
DONALD TRUMP: What a rigged deal. I’ll tell you, we are in such a rigged system. It is terrible. And you got to watch your polling booths because I hear too many stories about Pennsylvania. Certain areas. So go and vote and then go check out areas! Because a lot of bad things happen! We have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us.
KING: Trump has gone further, encouraging his supporters to observe voters at the polls. Thirty nine states have voter challenger laws. They give private citizens the right to challenge the eligibility of voters in person on election day. Contributing editor Alex Wagner of the Atlantic wrote an article. It’s called "Scare the Vote." She looks into Trump's claims and the lasting effect it might have on the democracy in this country. Alex Wagner joins us at the table. Welcome. Really good to see you.
ALEX WAGNER: Really good to see you guys.
KING: In the article, you say voter fraud is nearly zero percent in the United States. Yet, Donald Trump keeps raising it over and over and the effects could be devastating to this country.
WAGNER: Yeah. I think we talk a lot about the long-term effects of 2016 will be on the American public, right? Certainly there is a pervasive sense that a lot of our systems are broken, that our institutions need overhaul. But the notion that the basic act of democracy, of casting a vote, is no longer fair and that our elections in some ways are no longer free, which is a suggestion we have been hearing from Donald Trump on the campaign trail as of late. The long-term and even medium-term effect on our democracy could be profound. This is not a position that America, which is largely seen as a model democracy around the world, has been in before.
KING: Profound, how do you think?
WAGNER: Well, you know, I talk to election watchers who have done this election monitoring around the world. I talked to folks at the U.N. and they say that this kind of rhetoric that we are hearing from Donald Trump about the election is rigged in advance of the election, that is rhetoric you hear from emerging and weak democracies. This is — These tactics and this is the front page of the New York Times, iron man rhetoric. This is what we here from leaders like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. This is not the norm in terms of American politics and nor is the suggestion or the solicitation online, as the Trump campaign is doing, to send private citizens out to the polls to watch and see what their other fellow Americans are doing.
ROSE: But on the other side too, there are all the stories that the Russians are trying to influence elections.
WAGNER: Sure. And that absolutely, I think, that is adding to this climate of insecurity and fear. However, the evidence is what it is. There are 1 in 15 million cases of voter fraud is statistically zero. It doesn't exist as a percentage of the American votes cast. Now, does that mean our system is perfect, that we don't need better machines, that we don't need to increase voter registration and turnout and all of the rest?
ROSE: Or does it mean something has changed?
WAGNER: Well, I think that the question of cyberwar fare and cybermonitoring is broad and that is a different issue than necessarily Donald Trump is calling for. Private citizens can't do cybermonitoring in person.
KING: But it's heating up as his numbers are dropping too.
WAGNER: Sure. And that I think that is not a coincidence, right? If things are not going your way, challenge the results.
NORAH O’DONNELL: There’s two really interesting things, which is one, it is easier to vote in this country early. And we will have as much as 40 percent of the vote will be early. In fact, there are many people believe that Florida, North Carolina, maybe Nevada, Ohio, could be decided even before the election.
WAGNER: Sure.
O’DONNELL: On the flip side, Republicans, for the last six years, have made it harder to vote in person. We now have 34 states that require voters to show some form of identification at the polls. So, there are so many restrictions already in place to make sure the vote is fair.
WAGNER: Right. And I think it is worth noting, as much as it is largely conservative legislatures have moved forward these voter I.D. laws, Republicans, and this is being reported today in Politico today, Republican elected officials and former officials are saying this rhetoric about the system being rigged, is dangerous. There are people on both sides of the aisle that recognize the tenor in American politics that is being driven in this particular moment is not a good one in the long term.
ROSE: And what will be the long term effect, do you think?
WAGNER: Look. If you have a section of one of our two major political parties that no longer believes it matters or it is fair when Americans turn out to vote, the implications for that are profound. If you have people not participating in the democratic process how do you have a representative democracy?
KING: I just think how it's going to play out. I can challenge anybody who is voting? What are my qualifications?
WAGNER: We definitely don't want voters intimidated at the polls. And that’s what some of these challenger laws allow. That is not a good process. That is not good activity on election day.
ROSE: Thanks, Alex.
