The liberal media were in sour moods Monday after the White House released its plan to address school safety and gun control. Journalists on the evening newscasts were upset that the plan didn’t have the sweeping and constitutionally-questionable actions they were desperately hoping for, which also had them singing President Trump’s praises just two weeks ago.
“And at the White House tonight, President Trump revealing his plan for gun safety, and critics are now asking about a promise he made that is not in the proposal,” announced ABC’s sensationalist anchor, David Muir on World News Tonight.
The report was headed up by Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl who was in a somber mood through the entire report. “Less than two weeks ago, President Trump boldly declared he's not afraid to take on the NRA,” he said before asserting that Trump had “caved entirely to the gun lobby on school safety.”
Karl complained that Trump’s proposals didn’t have any solid action for employing age restrictions for purchasing certain types of firearms, most notably the AR-15. “Parkland survivor Sam Zeif had pleaded directly to the President for the age increase,” he recalled of Trump’s listening sessions at the White House. But he failed in his duty to report that Zeif’s argument was partially based on a fake news story that went viral with the help of a CNN anchor.
The ABC reporter painted the situation as the President being seemingly tainted by the National Rifle Association after a White House meeting. “He talked about universal background checks, taking guns away from those identified as a threat, even without due process. What happened to all those proposals,” he badgered White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a clip. Again, he failed to report that confiscating guns with no due process was unconstitutional.
Karl wrapped up his report by poignantly highlighting a partisan rebuke from Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is staunchly anti-gun:
In fact, Dianne Feinstein, who sat right next to the President and seemed pleased with what he said back then looks at this new proposal and calls it “a shameful abdication of the President’s responsibility to lead.” Adding, “shame on you, Mr. President.”
Meanwhile, on NBC Nightly News, they too were pushing the narrative that the NRA had shadily gotten to Trump in some way. “Despite denials from the White House, it's the president who appears to be bending to the NRA, whose leaders he hosted one day after that televised call to action,” reported White House Correspondent Peter Alexander.
Alexander also appeared to scoff at the idea that Trump was “now advocating fixing the background check system, not expanding it,” and was put off by no age restrictions.
The fact that they went from singing President Trump’s praises for siding with Democrats to arguably denouncing him, it’s clear that the self-righteous liberal media had no interest in a solution that didn’t involve their agenda 100 percent.
The relevant portions of the transcripts are below, click expand to read:
ABC
World News Tonight
March 12, 2018
6:39:54 PM Eastern [2 minutes 33 seconds]DAVID MUIR: And at the White House tonight, President Trump revealing his plan for gun safety, and critics are now asking about a promise he made that is not in the proposal. Also at this hour, breaking news from the White House on the Russia investigation. We have it all, involving what a committee in the House is now saying. Here's ABC's Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl.
[Cuts to video]
JON KARL: Less than two weeks ago, President Trump boldly declared he's not afraid to take on the NRA.
DONALD TRUMP: Some of you people are petrified of the NRA. You can't be petrified.
KARL: But now, the President seems to have caved entirely to the gun lobby on school safety. The most glaring example, raising the minimum age to buy an assault weapon.
(…)
KARL: Parkland survivor Sam Zeif had pleaded directly to the President for the age increase.
(…)
KARL: A week later, NRA officials came to the White House, and the President tweeted, "Good -- great -- meeting in the oval office." Now, the just-released White House plan on school safety calls only to study the issue of age reinstructions. In the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting, the President said he supported several other initiatives opposed by the NRA.
He talked about universal background checks, taking guns away from those identified as a threat, even without due process. What happened to all those proposals?
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: Right now, the President's primary focus is on pushing through things that we know have broad bipartisan support or things that we can do from an administrative perspective that we can do immediately.
(…)
MUIR: So, let's get to Jonathan Karl live at the White House tonight. And some of the lawmakers in that meeting that day with the President are now responding to this.
KARL: In fact, Dianne Feinstein, who sat right next to the President and seemed pleased with what he said back then looks at this new proposal and calls it “a shameful abdication of the President’s responsibility to lead.” Adding, “shame on you, Mr. President.”
(…)
NBC Nightly News
March 12, 2018
7:07:49 PM Eastern [1 minute 41 seconds]LESTER HOLT: We’ll turn now to the battle raging over guns in our nation's capital. The White House rolling out its new school safety plan to combat gun violence, but it does not include certain proposals President Trump initially made, like imposing new federal age restrictions. NBC's Peter Alexander has the story for us.
[Cuts to video]
PETER ALEXANDER: In the wake of last month's massacre in Parkland, President Trump stunned gun rights groups publicly supporting tough, new restrictions.
(…)
ALEXANDER: But now, despite denials from the White House, it's the president who appears to be bending to the NRA, whose leaders he hosted one day after that televised call to action. On raising the age limit to purchase firearms, President Trump today tweeting, “not much political support, to put it mildly.” The idea instead simply under review by a soon to be formed commission headed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. With no clear timeline.
(…)
ALEXANDER: The President for now advocating fixing the background check system, not expanding it. Despite just weeks ago, expressing an openness to comprehensive checks. Improving mental health programs. And arming properly trained teachers. An idea that a majority of Americans and teachers groups oppose. Tonight, Democrat Dianne Feinstein slamming President Trump who she says completely “caved to the gun lobby.” A point the White House disputes.
(…)
