Following a Sunday Good Morning America segment praising Democratic 2020 hopefuls for calling a stringent gun control measures, ABC chief anchor and Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos took a swipe at President Trump for talking with the NRA. He then seemed to suggest the United States didn’t have background checks on firearm purchases.
Normally, the liberal talking point was to call for so-called “universal background checks” (even though gun sales already required a background check). Instead, Stephanopoulos seemed to suggest background checks weren’t required and the National Rifle Association opposed implementing them:
It's a fantasy to believe that the NRA is going to sign on to background checks. So, the President is going to have to choose, he could be for background checks, before the overwhelming majority of American voters who say they're for them as well and cut the NRA loose. If he sticks with the NRA we're not going to get background checks.
“The President is going to have to choose,” Stephanopoulos chided. “After past shootings, he's come out for background checks and then backed away from it. Most notably after Parkland.”
Those comments were prompted by GMA co-anchor Tom Llamas, who was deeply skeptical of Trump’s desire for “meaningful background checks”. And seemed appalled that Trump would want the NRA to be “represented and respected.” “Is there any reason we should believe that he's committed to this issue,” he decried.
Shortly before that, Llamas opined about how last week was an “important week for the campaign” because most of the Democratic field was openly calling Trump a racist and a white supremacist:
[W]e saw the Democrats intensify their attacks on President Trump. But we also saw a split. Some who held him accountable for the shooting in El Paso because of the President's comments on undocumented immigrants and Mexicans and who called him a white supremacist, but others didn't want to go that far.
“Tough talk worked in 2016. Is that what Democratic voters want,” he asked Stephanopoulos.
Stephanopoulos touted the narrative because it “plays well with the Democratic base” and “that’s what the Democratic base voters want right now.” But he warned the candidates:
They want President Trump to be called out. I think the risk for the Democratic candidates is, how do you call out—Or, the question for the candidates, how do you call out President Trump without appearing to call all of his supporters racist and white supremacist?
Meanwhile, Stephanopoulos’s liberal media colleagues were happy to smear all of Trump’s supporters that way.
Of course, he would also ignore that background checks were already the standard and were supported by the NRA, to begin with.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
August 11, 20198:12:34 a.m. Eastern
Let's bring in our chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos, who will be hosting This Week later this morning. And George, this was an important week for the campaign. I believe. And we saw the Democrats intensify their attacks on President Trump. But we also saw a split. Some who held him accountable for the shooting in El Paso because of the President's comments on undocumented immigrants and Mexicans and who called him a white supremacist, but others didn't want to go that far.
Tough talk worked in 2016. Is that what Democratic voters want?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Surely, that’s what the Democratic base voters want right now. They want President Trump to be called out. I think the risk for the Democratic candidates is, how do you call out—Or, the question for the candidates, how do you call out President Trump without appearing to call all of his supporters racist and white supremacist?
That’s the fine line they’re trying to walk right now. And I don’t think they want to alienate all of his supporters. But there’s no question calling out President Trump, in a big way, plays well with the Democratic base.
LLAMAS: And peaking of the President, you know, he said he wanted meaningful background checks. He also said he was going to have Senator Mitch McConnell on board. But he’s flip-flopped on this issue before. He also made it a point to say the NRA would be represented and respected. Is there any reason we should believe that he's committed to this issue?
STEPHANOPOULOS: The President is going to have to choose. I think there's no question about that, as you point out. After past shootings, he's come out for background checks and then backed away from it. Most notably after Parkland.
It's a fantasy to believe that the NRA is going to sign on to background checks. So, the President is going to have to choose, he could be for background checks, before the overwhelming majority of American voters who say they're for them as well and cut the NRA loose. If he sticks with the NRA we're not going to get background checks.
