It only took moments for NBC and CBS to trash President Trump’s decision on Thursday to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, relying on immediate denunciations from Barack Obama and Al Gore. During special coverage following the President’s Rose Garden address announcing his decision, anchors on both networks promptly recited statements from the two Democrats.
On NBC, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie announced: “We already are getting reaction pouring in. President Obama, who of course presided over the negotiation of that agreement, saying that he hopes that cities and states and businesses will now step in to lead the way.” She then turned to the liberal media’s favorite environmental crusader:
And we have obtained a statement from former Vice President Al Gore, who says, “Removing the U.S. from the Paris agreement is a reckless and indefensible action that undermines America’s standing in the world and threatens to damage humanity’s ability to solve the climate crisis in time. But make no mistake, if President Trump won’t lead, the American people will.”
A ready-made graphic appeared on screen to promote the left-wing screed.
On CBS, Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson focused on Obama’s reaction, reading a fuller portion of it for viewers:
President Obama put forward this alternative argument today in response to what President Trump did. Let’s just read here from the last paragraph of his statement. President – former President Obama said, “The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got.”
Just like NBC, an on-screen graphic was ready to promote the attack.
The networks never ran to get comments from Republicans when Obama made a policy announcement from the White House.
Here are excerpts from the NBC and CBS special reports:
NBC News Special Report
4:00 PM ET(...)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Alright, as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt takes the podium, the President we have news that the United States, as expected, will withdraw from the Paris climate accord, which was negotiated by 195 countries back in December 2015. And all of those countries had agreed in their own ways to reduce carbon emissions to try to limit the effects of climate change.
We already are getting reaction pouring in. President Obama, who of course presided over the negotiation of that agreement, saying that he hopes that cities and states and businesses will now step in to lead the way. And we have obtained a statement from former Vice President Al Gore, who says, “Removing the U.S. from the Paris agreement is a reckless and indefensible action that undermines America’s standing in the world and threatens to damage humanity’s ability to solve the climate crisis in time. But make no mistake, if President Trump won’t lead, the American people will.”
Let me go to Chuck Todd, moderator of Meet the Press. This was an interesting speech to watch because you can see the President really hitting his political base and saying, “I'm an American first president, I made this promise to you, this is me making good on a campaign promise.”
CHUCK TODD: It is. Look, I think the headline, though, needs a "but" at the end of it. You know, he made a big show of pulling out, but he’s also saying that he’s willing to negotiate back in. And the way this treaty works, I mean, that is – look, one thing about Donald Trump is he always gives himself an exit strategy, or in this case I guess it would be a re-entrance strategy. So I don’t think we should just take the withdrawal at face value. He also sent a simultaneous signal saying, “Hey, I'm willing to be talked back into this, I’m willing to be wooed into this.”
But look, there’s a bigger force at play here, Savannah, which is, when it comes to the politics of the politics of the environment, when you pit the idea of jobs versus the environment, jobs is usually going to win the day for many people running for office. It resonates more. I think this should be a wake-up call to environmental activists and climate activists and the fact that there just is not the same sense of urgency on the right and among many people in many parts of this country that there is around the world and with many activists on this. And I think that they ought to ask themselves, why is that?
(...)
CBS News Special Report
4:02 PM(...)
MAJOR GARRETT: President Obama believed exactly the opposite, and many American corporations don’t believe that either. They believe fossil fuel and fossil fuel industries are 20th century technologies and not where the main jobs or the main money can be made, and that's an enormously important philosophical disagreement.
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, that’s exactly right, and President Obama put forward this alternative argument today in response to what President Trump did. Let’s just read here from the last paragraph of his statement. President – former President Obama said, “The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got.” Making precisely the case you just did, this is an economic argument versus an economic argument.
(...)
