During a lengthy softball interview with Joe Biden Wednesday night, Daily Show host Trevor Noah teed up the presumptive Democratic nominee to accuse Trump of trying to “steal this election” and even prompted him to suggest that the military may have to “escort” the President from the White House if he “refused to leave.”
“I think it’s safe to say that America is expecting a really dirty election. We know how Donald Trump plays in an election....You know that he will punch below the belt,” Noah fretted to Biden. The host then asked: “You’ve often said that you plan to be the president who brings America back together, but how does that play into the way you’ll run your campaign?”
Proving that he was more concerned with trashing Trump than fostering unity, Biden compared the administration to a “carney show” and promised: “The thing we’re doing is calling out every lie he, in fact, is saying. We’re calling out and making a case that this guy is not a good guy.”
Later in the interview, Noah suggested voter suppression would prevent Biden from winning the election:
You may have respect and you may have people coming out in many places to vote for you. But as we saw in Georgia just yesterday, if those people’s votes aren’t counted and if those people don’t get the opportunity to vote, then your entire campaign may be moot. So what is the plan up until November to make sure that people can vote, to make sure that everyone – whether it’s Republican or Democrat, black or white – has the opportunity to vote without being in a line that’s six hours long?
In response, Biden offered a wild conspiracy theory: “It’s my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president’s going to try to steal this election.”
Noah followed up by escalating the discussion and speculating on the possibility of there not being a peaceful transition of power: “Do you worry then – let me ask you this and I know this is a strange question to ask an American politician, maybe easier around the world – but have you ever considered what would happen if the election result came out as you being the winner and Trump refused to leave?”
Biden ranted:
Yes, I have. And I was so damn proud. Here you have four chiefs of staff coming out and ripping the skin off of Trump. And you have so many rank and file military personnel saying, “Whoa, we’re not a military state. This is not what who we are.” I promise you, I am absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.
Rather than call out the former Vice President for his irresponsible rhetoric the night before, on Thursday, liberal media outlets lined up to tout his “2020 warning” as just a sign of “a campaign season that is heating up.” On NBC’s Today show, White House correspondent Kristen Welker declared:
Meanwhile, overnight, the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden making headlines by issuing a blunt warning about President Trump and the November election during an interview on The Daily Show....Now, Biden also saying if President Trump loses and refuses to leave, the military would, quote, “escort him from the White House with great dispatch.” Some of Biden’s sharpest comments and underscoring that this is a campaign season that is heating up.
During an interview with Democratic Louisiana Congressman and Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond, CNN New Day co-host John Berman wondered: “...the former Vice President was on The Daily Show overnight and he was asked about whether he worried that President Trump would resist leaving office if defeated in November....do you think the military – it will take the military to remove President Trump from office if he’s defeated?”
Richmond at first made light of the comments: “Well, I haven’t asked for much on this campaign, but I do want to be on the escort committee to make sure that he leaves the White House.” Then he argued it was a “serious question” and “a real concern that he will create a issue or a problem and decide that he will not honor the election results.”
Rather than follow up, Berman simply thanked the liberal lawmaker for his time.
On MSNBC that afternoon, anchor Andrea Mitchell promoted: “Joe Biden told Trevor Noah on The Daily Show that his biggest concern is that the President will try to steal the election.” After playing a clip of the remarks, she turned to correspondent Mike Memoli and happily noted: “...it seemed to me that Joe Biden was really sharpening his attack in this nearly hour-long interview last night with Trevor Noah.”
Memoli doubled down on the talking point: “Yeah, that’s right, Andrea. I mean, as one campaign adviser put it to us several weeks ago, the thing that keeps them up at night is this question of whether Donald Trump will challenge the results of an election.”
Back in 2016, outlets like NBC and CNN freaked out when Trump claimed the election was “rigged.” Now that Biden has adopted the same tactic in 2020, where is all the press outrage?
Here is a transcript of Noah’s June 10 exchange with Biden:
11:31 PM ET
(...)
TREVOR NOAH: One of the major things you would have to do in order to create all of this change is win an election.
JOE BIDEN: Yes, that’s true. (Laughter) That’s true.
NOAH: I think it’s safe to say that America is expecting a really dirty election. We know how Donald Trump plays in an election, we’ve seen it up against Hillary Clinton in 2016. You know that he holds no punches. You know that he will punch below the belt. You've often said that you plan to be the president who brings America back together, but how does that play into the way you’ll run your campaign?
BIDEN: Well, first of all, you know, when the carney show comes through town the first time and everybody finds out there’s no pea under any of the three shells, well, the next time it comes around people have a different view. The thing we’re doing is calling out every lie he, in fact, is saying. We’re calling out and making a case that this guy is not a good guy. This is what he has done.
What’s happening is the American public overwhelmingly now, if you notice, two-thirds of the American public thinks that the people who want to – who are protesting, are the people who are right, and not the President. The president has been wrong. And so, there’s a lot that’s changed, a lot that’s changed. But it’s gonna be hard and he’s going to get very personal and say things about me, my family, my children, everything, that are simply not true.
But the good news is the bad news. The good news is the people know me, and they know me warts and all. The bad news is they know me. So he's not going to be able to make things stick that aren’t already real weaknesses on my part – and I have weaknesses, for real.
NOAH: What do you think some of those weaknesses are?
BIDEN: Well, I’m not going to advertise, but no, one of the weaknesses are because I always say what I think. No one ever has suggested that I don’t mean what I say.
NOAH: That’s true.
BIDEN: Sometimes I say all that I mean, and that gets me in trouble. (Laughter) And sometimes it does and I get it.
(...)
11:39 PM ET
NOAH: You may have respect and you may have people coming out in many places to vote for you. But as we saw in Georgia just yesterday, if those people’s votes aren’t counted and if those people don’t get the opportunity to vote, then your entire campaign may be moot. So what is the plan up until November to make sure that people can vote, to make sure that everyone – whether it’s Republican or Democrat, black or white – has the opportunity to vote without being in a line that’s six hours long?
BIDEN: It’s my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president’s going to try to steal this election. This is a guy who said that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent, voting by mail, while he sits behind the desk in the Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in a primary. This is a guy, you have 23, I believe, states have passed over 82 pieces of legislation making it harder for people to vote, harder.
That’s why we’re putting together a major initiative of lawyers to go out and make sure that we’re in every single district in the country to patrol this. We need – if I’m president – and this is what worries them – if I’m president we’re going to have same-day registration. The report was in Pennsylvania they’re still counting votes. We may might not know, quote – this is sort of the implicit threat – we might not know who won in Pennsylvania in a general election until a month after the election.
NOAH: Wow.
BIDEN: What do you think that this is about with Trump? This is a man –
NOAH: Do you worry then – let me ask you this and I know this is a strange question to ask an American politician, maybe easier around the world – but have you ever considered what would happen if the election result came out as you being the winner and Trump refused to leave?
BIDEN: Yes, I have. And I was so damn proud. Here you have four chiefs of staff coming out and ripping the skin off of Trump. And you have so many rank and file military personnel saying, “Whoa, we’re not a military state. This is not what who we are.” I promise you, I am absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.
(...)
