After news broke Wednesday night that the President may have struck a deal with Democratic congressional leaders to pass DACA legislation, on Thursday morning, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today gushed over how Trump “sounds like a Democrat” when discussing illegal immigration and tax reform.
Continuing their giddy evening newscast coverage of Trump inviting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to the White House for dinner, the ABC and NBC morning shows found sudden respect for the commander-in-chief after spending the entire summer pummeling him.
“Before that bipartisan dinner, the President presided over a bipartisan meeting....Where the Democrat-turned-Republican president sounded a lot more like a Democrat, saying the wealthy may have to pay higher taxes,” correspondent Cecilia Vega proclaimed on Good Morning America.
Following Vega’s report, co-host George Stephanopoulos announced: “This has enraged conservatives. A couple tweets overnight, Steve King, conservative from Iowa, ‘Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.’” Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief John Avlon hailed:
You know, he seemed conflicted about DACA and the compassion for individuals is one of the things he really tweeted out, “Why would we want to deport people who are here through no fault of their own, who are serving their country in the military in some cases.” Those are more Democratic talking points than conservative.
Stephanopoulos followed up: “The President also sounds like a Democrat saying wealthier – the wealthy are gonna have to pay more under his tax plan.” Avlon agreed: “...the President saying he’s going to focus on middle class tax cuts and the wealthy might get a hike, that sounds like a Democrat.”
On NBC’s Today, correspondent Peter Alexander enthused:
All of it a strategic shift for the President. Just last week, shocking the capital by making a deal with Democrats on a debt ceiling extension, pulling the rug out from under the GOP....Not long ago, Mr. Trump mocked Schumer as the “head clown,” Pelosi as a “loser”....Now he’s cozying up to the Democratic duo....Even sounding a lot like a Democrat on taxes, signaling that the rich might pay more.
Reporting for Wednesday’s CBS This Morning, Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes touted: “I think what it says is that the President likes to be able to not just cut deals, but cut quick deals and he's able to do that with Democrats....These deals with Democrats in comparison are relatively clean, and clearly the President likes that.”
The biased segments on ABC and NBC were brought to viewers by Tropicana, IHOP, and Carmax.
Here are excerpts of the September 14 coverage on both networks:
Good Morning America
7:10 AM ET(...)
CECILIA VEGA: Bipartisan had been the buzzword of the day. Before that bipartisan dinner, the President presided over a bipartisan meeting.
DONALD TRUMP: If you look at some of the greatest legislation ever passed, it was done on a bipartisan manner.
VEGA: Where the Democrat-turned-Republican president sounded a lot more like a Democrat, saying the wealthy may have to pay higher taxes.
TRUMP: If they have to go higher, they’ll go higher, frankly.
VEGA: It all left the White House facing questions about the President’s allegiances.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: The President is the leader of the Republican Party and was elected by Republicans, so the idea that the Republican Party ideas are not represented in that room is just ridiculous.
(...)
7:12 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: This has enraged conservatives. A couple tweets overnight, Steve King, conservative from Iowa, “Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.” Breitbart’s home page – remember, Steve Bannon, the former White House adviser, heads that – “Amnesty Don. Report: Dems Declare Victory After Trump Caves on DACA.”
JON AVLON [EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, DAILY BEAST]: Amnesty Don, he’s getting a taste of his own medicine with the nickname from his base. And make no mistake, for them this is a major betrayal. The President was a hardliner on immigration. But he seems to be returning to some of his roots on this issues. You know, he seemed conflicted about DACA and the compassion for individuals is one of the things he really tweeted out, “Why would we want to deport people who are here through no fault of their own, who are serving their country in the military in some cases.” Those are more Democratic talking points than conservative.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The President also sounds like a Democrat saying wealthier – the wealthy are gonna have to pay more under his tax plan. But what we know about his tax plan, under what we know about his tax plan, the wealthy would pay a lot less.
AVLON: That is what we’ve seen to date. Now, again, you know, he seems to be really enjoying trying to scramble the coalitions. Republican leadership was not at that Chinese dinner in the Blue Room last night, but the President saying he’s going to focus on middle class tax cuts and the wealthy might get a hike, that sounds like a Democrat.
(...)
Today
7:01 AM ET(...)
PETER ALEXANDER: This morning, a political back and forth over the art of the deal. The President tweeting a short time ago, “No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.” It comes after the President late Wednesday, working around his own party, hosted Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi at the White House. On the menu, tax reform, border security, infrastructure, trade, and how to resolve the dispute over so-called DREAMers, after the administration’s move to end the Obama-era policy protecting young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.
After the sit-down, the Democratic leaders announcing, “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”
Some Republicans outraged. Congressman Steve King, tweeting, “If the story’s correct, Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.” Others praising the President, like Senator Jeff Flake. “Kudos to @POTUS for pursuing agreements that will protect #DREAMERS from deportation.”
Meanwhile, the White House immediately pushed back, saying, “excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to.” Schumer’s communications director then tweeting back, “The President made clear he would continue pushing the wall, just not as part of this agreement.”
All of it a strategic shift for the President. Just last week, shocking the capital by making a deal with Democrats on a debt ceiling extension, pulling the rug out from under the GOP. The President later running with Pelosi’s request he tweet some reassurance to the nearly 800,000 DREAMers. His press secretary praising her boss by trashing his predecessor.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: This president’s done more for bipartisanship in the last eight days than Obama did in eight years.
ALEXANDER: Frustrated by how slowly things are getting done, including Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Not long ago, Mr. Trump mocked Schumer as the “head clown,” Pelosi as a “loser.”
DONALD TRUMP [FOX NEWS / FEBRUARY 28]: I think she’s incompetent, actually.
ALEXANDER: Now he’s cozying up to the Democratic duo.
TRUMP: Chuck and Nancy would like to see something happen, and so do I.
ALEXANDER: Even sounding a lot like a Democrat on taxes, signaling that the rich might pay more.
TRUMP: If they have to go higher, they’ll go higher, frankly.
ALEXANDER: As for concerns from skeptical conservatives that he might abandon them?
TRUMP: Well, I’m a conservative, and I will tell you, I’m not skeptical. And I think that if we can do things in a bipartisan matter, that’ll be great.
(...)
