On the morning of Donald Trump’s inauguration, ABC spent a few minutes legitimizing the 60+ Democrats boycotting Trump as a sign of a “divided nation.” Contrast that with eight years ago, when the networks were giddy and gushing about how great Obama’s presidency was for the country.
Friday, ABC proved again that when a Democrat wins, the country is “unified” according to the media, but when a Republican wins, the country is “divided.” The morning of Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, Good Morning America touted the “millions fueled by hope and the shared dreams of a renewed America.” Today however, GMA talked more about a “divided nation.”
Anchor George Stephanopoulos and correspondent Cecilia Vega then claimed that Democrats boycotting the inauguration was a direct result of disunity in the country instead of what it really is, a petty partisan display protesting the election.
Vega’s report started out by talking about Trump’s upcoming speech to “a divided nation.” Stephanopoulos followed up by bringing up the Democrat boycott as “one of the signs of that division,” which prompted Vega to detail all the reasons for the boycott.
As if 7 days of heavy coverage of the boycott wasn’t enough already, Vega hammered home again why Democrats were staying home, legitimizing their protest of the election results:
STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll find out. One of the signs of that division is this boycott that appears to be going on, Democratic members of Congress, now several dozen will not be at the inauguration ceremony today.
VEGA: More than 60, George. In modern history we've never seen any numbers like this. I was on the Hill this week speaking with a number of them and their reasons are different. Some of them say that they feel that Donald Trump's soon-to-be presidency is an illegitimate one so they are protesting for that one. Others say they are not happy with the tone that he has set in this country and the discourse and the language that he's used about minority communities and about women and so for that they say they will be staying home. Many of them tell me they will be attending protests and rallies in their own districts all around the country but you're right, as the seats begin to fill up this morning, those 60 some odd seats, 66 I think the number is right now will be empty today.
