Just like NewsBusters warned folks about the likelihood that the 2015 CNBC Republican presidential debate moderators could be nutty, we struck gold again on Monday. Following numerous studies about the liberal tilt of CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, the debut episode of O’Donnell’s CBS Evening News made it apparent that the newscast will return to being virulently anti-Trump, waging war against the President after his “racist” “tweets.”
O’Donnell even set the tone from the first words out of her mouth in the opening teases: “Tonight, the President denies his tweets are racist, even as he steps up his attacks on four congresswomen of color....And the women fire back...Also tonight families living in fear of being arrested and deported after a threatened crackdown.”
On Twitter, this left liberal media hall monitor Brian Stelter all jazzed up.
She continued in her lead-off prior to a report by White House correspondent Weijia Jiang (click “expand”):
We begin with breaking news in Washington, four Democratic congresswoman of color have just spoken publicly as a group for the first time about the racist tweets aimed at them by the President of the United States. President Trump continued his attacks at the White House today, again inviting these congresswomen to leave the country and CBS News has learned that Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with her leadership team tonight to discuss a House resolution denouncing the President's language. Republican leadership in Congress? Well, they've been noticeably silent. White House correspondent Weijia Jiang begins tonight's war of words.
Jiang went to work siding with “four freshman congresswomen of color known as The Squad,” noting that “[t]he President defiantly defended himself at a made in America event...but his racist tweets about who should stay in America quickly got all his attention.”
After Jiang correctly noted Trump’s targeting of Omar being due in part to her AIPAC comments, she illustrated the liberal media’s moving of the goalposts for the GOP, scolding them for being “slow to respond to the President's remarks, but today several did say he was out of line.”
Here’s the end of the Jiang segment, featuring more Republican lecturing (click “expand”):
JIANG: Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would hold a vote on a resolution condemning President's tweets, forcing GOP lawmakers to go on the record and she accused Mr. Trump of wanting to make America white again. [TO TRUMP] Speaker Pelosi says you want to make America white again. Is that true?
TRUMP: Well, that's just a very racist statement, somebody that would say that.
O’DONNELL: Weijia joins us now from the White House, and Weijia, why haven't the Republican leaders in congress commented on this.
JIANG: Norah, it is not a lack of trying. CBS News has been pressing GOP leaders all day long, including Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Kevin McCarthy to weigh in on this escalating controversy but so far, we have gotten silence. Congressman Steve Scalise, the number two in the House says they will talk about it more but so far that has not happened and there is no indication when it will.
CBS’s anti-Trump shakedown was just getting started. O’Donnell went next to chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett with a commentary on Trump’s “long history of controversial racial comments,” which was in contrast to his flowery Obama retrospectives.
“The nation has observed Mr. Trump as candidate and President, judge and judge harshly based on race, religion, and ethnicity. Like his call for a Muslim ban,” Garrett began, featuring comments from his campaign launch, his Muslim fan, criticizing Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Charlottesville, and of course, his ugly birtherism streak.
Later, Garrett added in teeing up Trump’s Fifth Avenue comments: “Mr. Trump's willingness to invite charges of racism is now a staple of his presidency, as is the resiliency of his support, foreshadowed by his own words during the campaign.”
When O’Donnell asked “why is he” “doubl[ing] down on the remarks that he made,” Garrett replied (click “expand”):
Well, my reporting, Norah, today is consistent with the reporting I’ve done throughout my exposure to Mr. Trump as a candidate and president. He sees an advantage in being labeled a racist or being accused of having racist motives. Why? It draws attention to some other issue he wants the public to scrutinize or pay attention to. National security, immigration, patriotism, or in this case, the so called progressive or radical left of the Democratic of the party. He believes by uniting Democrats now, he has brought attention to what he perceives as a political vulnerability of Democrats, a leftward lurch and that is why many people close to the President tell me he went down this road starting this weekend.
More odiously, O’Donnell sandwiched between coverage of Trump’s tweets and more pro-illegal immigration coverage a news brief about the latest life sentence for the white supremacist convicted in the Charlottesville murder of Heather Heyer, as if to link him to Trump and the GOP. As Bernie Kropp from The Incredibles said, “Coincidence? I think not!”
National correspondent Manuel Bojorquez continued on the immigration beat, sympathetically speaking with another illegal immigrant who’s ignoring a years-old deportation order (just as CBS did last week).
O’Donnell later ended her maiden voyage with a commentary in which she quoted one of her predecessors about using television as a “weapon” in “battle...against ignorance, intolerance, and indifference”:
Thank you for joining us tonight. There is a great legacy here at CBS News of the finest journalists. One of them was Edward R. Murrow, who eloquently captured the power of television when he said “this instrument can teach, it can illuminate. Yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it’s nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance, and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.” To Mr. Murrow, we will try to use it well and with integrity.
Look out, Scott Pelley. Because you might have some competition at CBS in the smug department.
To see the relevant transcript from July 15's CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell, click “expand.”
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell
July 15, 2019
6:30 p.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Racial Firestorm]
NORAH O’DONNELL: Tonight, the President denies his tweets are racist, even as he steps up his attacks on four congresswoman of color.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If you hate our country, if you're not happy here, you can leave.
O’DONNELL: And the women fire back.
CONGRESSWOMAN ILHAN OMAR (D-MN) He's launching a blatantly racist attack.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Immigration Crackdown]
O’DONNELL: Also tonight families living in fear of being arrested and de ported after a threatened crackdown.
(....)
6:31 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Racial Firestorm]
O’DONNELL: We begin with breaking news in Washington, four Democratic congresswoman of color have just spoken publicly as a group for the first time about the racist tweets aimed at them by the President of the United States. President Trump continued his attacks at the White House today, again inviting these congresswomen to leave the country and CBS News has learned that Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with her leadership team tonight to discuss a House resolution denouncing the President's language. Republican leadership in Congress? Well, they've been noticeably silent. White House correspondent Weijia Jiang begins tonight's war of words.
OMAR: It's time for us to impeach this president.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Pres. Trump Defends Racist Tweets]
WEIJIA JIANG: Late this afternoon, four freshman congresswomen of color known as The Squad fired back at President Trump after he tweeted over the weekend they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
CONGRESSWOMAN AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): This is a distraction and we should not take the bait.
JIANG: All four Democratic lawmakers are American citizens and only Ilhan Omar was born outside of the U.S. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000 after immigrating from Somalia.
TRUMP: If you are not happy here, then you can leave. As far as I'm concerned, if you hate our country, if you are not happy here, you can leave.
JIANG: The President defiantly defended himself at a made in America event this morning that was supposed to showcase U.S. products. But his racist tweets about who should stay in America quickly got all his attention.
TRUMP: Some people think it's controversial. A lot of people love it by the way. A lot of people love it.
JIANG: Mr. Trump also called the women “anti-America” and “a bunch of communists.” [TO TRUMP] Which congresswomen are you talking about?
TRUMP: You can guess that one.
KAITLAN COLLINS: They were born here!
JIANG: President Trump singled Omar out for her comments in February claiming AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, has bought the support of her Democratic colleagues.
TRUMP: Says horrible things about Israel, hates Israel, hates Jews. Hates Jews, it's very simple.
CONGRESSWOMAN ALEXANDIRA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): He does not know how to de fend his policy. So what he does is attack us personally and that is what this is all about.
JIANG: Republicans were slow to respond to the President's remarks, but today several did say he was out of line.
CONGRESSMAN WILL HURD (R-TX): The tweets are — are racist and xenophobic.
JIANG: Others stood by him.
CONGRESSMAN JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Come on, of course the President is not racist but he’s frustrated like so many Americans are.
JIANG: Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would hold a vote on a resolution condemning President's tweets, forcing GOP lawmakers to go on the record and she accused Mr. Trump of wanting to make America white again. [TO TRUMP] Speaker Pelosi says you want to make America white again. Is that true?
TRUMP: Well, that's just a very racist statement, somebody that would say that.
O’DONNELL: Weijia joins us now from the White House, and Weijia, why haven't the Republican leaders in congress commented on this.
JIANG: Norah, it is not a lack of trying. CBS News has been pressing GOP leaders all day long, including Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Kevin McCarthy to weigh in on this escalating controversy but so far, we have gotten silence. Congressman Steve Scalise, the number two in the House says they will talk about it more but so far that has not happened and there is no indication when it will. Norah?
O’DONNELL: Weijia Jiang, thank you.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Divisive History]
O’DONNELL: Also at the White House tonight is Major Garrett and he’s been covering Mr. Trump since he began his first presidential campaign four years ago. Major looks at the President's long history of controversial racial comments.
TRUMP [on 07/16/15]: They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Pres. Trump’s Divisive History]
MAJOR GARRETT: The nation has observed Mr. Trump as candidate and President, judge and judge harshly based on race, religion, and ethnicity. Like his call for a Muslim ban.
TRUMP [on 12/07/15]: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
GARRETT: He accused federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, born in Indiana, of being biased because his parents emigrated from Mexico.
TRUMP [on 06/15/16]: I'm talking about common sense, okay. He’s somebody, he’s proud of his heritage.
JOHN DICKERSON [on 06/15/16]: But are you saying it’s a barrier to him doing his job.
TRUMP [on 06/15/16]: Oh, he’s not treating me fairly. He’s not treating me fairly.
GARRETT: Even before running for president, Mr. Trump inflamed racial tensions questioning President Obama's birth place.
TRUMP [on 04/08/11]: Why doesn't he show his birth certificate?
GARRETT: And the President was forgiving of white nationalists spewing anti-Semitism after a deadly confrontation in Charlottesville.
TRUMP [on 08/15/17]: You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.
GARRETT: Mr. Trump's willingness to invite charges of racism is now a staple of his presidency, as is the resiliency of his support, foreshadowed by his own words during the campaign.
TRUMP [on 01/23/16]: Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible.
O’DONNELL: And Major, we saw the President today double down on the remarks that he made. Why is he doing that?
GARRETT: Well, my reporting, Norah, today is consistent with the reporting I’ve done throughout my exposure to Mr. Trump as a candidate and president. He sees an advantage in being labeled a racist or being accused of having racist motives. Why? It draws attention to some other issue he wants the public to scrutinize or pay attention to. National security, immigration, patriotism, or in this case, the so called progressive or radical left of the Democratic of the party. He believes by uniting Democrats now, he has brought attention to what he perceives as a political vulnerability of Democrats, a leftward lurch and that is why many people close to the President tell me he went down this road starting this weekend.
O’DONNELL: Alright Major Garrett, thank you.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Life Sentence]
O’DONNELL: The white nationalist who killed a protester with his car in Charlottesville Virginia received a second sentence today of life in prison. James Fields received the life term plus 419 years and $480,000 in fines. He was already serving life in prison with no chance of parole on federal charges. Fields deliberately plowed into a crowd of anti-racism demonstrators in August of 2017 killing 32 year old Heather Heyer.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Immigration raids]
O’DONNELL: The President said the weekend roundups of undocumented immigrants were in his words “very successful.” CBS News has repeatedly reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement but, so far, ICE will not tell us how many immigrants were detained. Manuel Bojorquez reports on the impact all of this is having on immigrant families.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Threats of ICE Raids Spark Fear]
“JOSE”: The truth is, one of these days is going to be a nightmare.
MANUEL BOJORQUEZ: At the basement of this church in New Jersey, volunteers met with anxious immigrant families like Jose’s who came with his 13 year old son Fernando and asked we not use their real names.
“JOSE”: I'm just scared, one morning all my dreams, and all my expectations and all my pree dom just disappear.
BOJORQUEZ: He came to the United States from Mexico 20 years ago and was given a deportation order two years ago after being pulled over for a broken tail light. He's now a father of three U.S. citizen children.
“FERNANDO”: I feel like he can get detained and my family could get separated.
BOJORQUEZ: They are so worried they have covered up the windows at their home and even barricaded the front door. For Fernando, every day feels like it could be his last with his dad.
“FERNANDO”: That time I feel worried in the night, what last hug I give my dad, last kiss I give him is the last time I feel I am never going to see him again.
BOJORQUEZ: There was no sign of increased activity at this ICE facility in Florida today. Norah, the Trump administration has laid out a new rule that would essentially block most asylum seekers from Central America and other countries, but that rule seems certain to face a court battle.
O’DONNELL: Alright, Manuel Bojorquez, thank you.
(....)
6:58 p.m. Eastern
O’DONNELL: Thank you for joining us tonight. There is a great legacy here at CBS News of the finest journalists. One of them was Edward R. Murrow, who eloquently captured the power of television when he said “this instrument can teach, it can illuminate. Yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it’s nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance, and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.” To Mr. Murrow, we will try to use it well and with integrity.
