After touting President Obama’s endorsement of Emmanuel Macron last week, the networks were back Monday to offer full reports gushing about his election victory. The liberal candidate beat conservative candidate Marine Le Pen by a 2-1 margin, which all three networks characterized as a defeat against “extremism” and the “far right.” NBC’s Richard Engel was so excited about the news, that he actually compared Le Pen’s defeat to the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Living vicariously through the French, the networks congratulated our European ally for electing a liberal candidate while rejecting the “angry populism” from “Trump-like” Le Pen.
NBC’s RICHARD ENGEL: “[He] won with a message of optimism. In a resounding rejection of the far right, French voters overwhelmingly elected the young former banker Emmanuel Macron as president.
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ABC’s GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: This morning the European establishment is breathing a sigh of relief after Emmanuel Macron trounced Marine Le Pen. He is now the youngest French leader since Napoleon and our Chief Foreign Correspondent Terry Moran is in Paris. This 30-point win appears to be a decisive blow against a wave of angry populism across Europe.
ABC's Moran gushed about the “new era” in France, touting how the French were bragging about rejecting a Trump-like candidate:
It feels like a new era here in France. People have been coming up to us and saying we showed the world we will not take the path that America did in putting Donald Trump in the White House or Britain did in taking themselves out of the European Union and we showed them France is different and they're happy about that.
NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel also talked about the happy “feeling” this morning in France, but not without taking a harsh swipe against Le Pen, comparing her to Nazi Germany:
Today people in France are commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and there is a feeling in Paris once again that Europe has been saved. Back to you.
CBS This Morning was far less obnoxious, with only one cringe-worthy line from Chief Foreign Correspondent Mark Phillips, that the French had chosen “moderation” over “extremism.”
