In an appearance on NBC’s Sunday Today, political director Chuck Todd made the allegation that President Trump seemed as though he was “rooting” for the violence tearing apart the country. But what went unmentioned was the fact he was making the very same argument that Democratic nominee Joe Biden had made just three days earlier. Unbeknownst to Todd, he essentially echoed Biden’s deputy campaign manager, who appeared on Fox News Sunday claiming Trump was “incit[ing] violence.”
Host Willie Geist teed up Todd to make his unfounded claim by huffing about how they had to cover the violence at all (Click “expand”):
WILLIE GEIST: With people now literally dying in the streets, you hate to jump to the politics of this. But President Trump has made it a centerpiece of his re-election campaign, what we are seeing in the streets, the protests in the streets. He talked about it at length during his nomination speech Thursday night. And you'll be looking at it today, I know, on Meet the Press.
As we make the turn to the fall, what does this law and order, as the President, describes it, how does this play into the campaign?
“Well, obviously he wants to make it the diversion from focus on the virus. He wants this focus on the inner cities. He believes it's a way for him to have a political comeback here,” Todd began. “But I'll tell you, I think there is a ton of risk for the President politically.”
According to Todd, Trump was at risk of looking as though “he is rooting for the violence.”
Adding: “You heard the comments from Kellyanne Conway on Friday, sort of fed into that perception. The President retweeting, calling the Portland -- the Trump folks in Portland, calling them patriots. He is yet to condemn the vigilante violence. So, he’s -- it's obviously what he is trying to do. But I think he risks looking like he is rooting for violence here, and that's a bad place to be.”
Geist backed him up by recalling how White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell had noted Trump was “tweeting relentlessly about this issue.”
Meanwhile, a little over an hour later on Fox News Sunday, anchor Chris Wallace was taken aback by a similar accusation leveled by Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield:
WALLACE: Okay, but answer my question, you said “incite violence.”
BEDINGFIELD: Absolutely, he has. He has encouraged his supporters to go out to be aggressive. You just hear, you were just discussing with Laura Trump. Kellyanne Conway it unapologetically, ‘it is better for this president if there is more anarchy, more violence, more chaos. He has, at every opportunity, tried to fan the flames here. And that is the reason we’re living in Donald Trump’s America.
You know, he’s trying to make this argument.
Bedingfield was the same campaign official who thanked the press for all their help following the announcement that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) was Biden’s running mate.
Again, this wasn’t an original thought by Todd. Back on Thursday, the final day of the Republican Nation Convention, Biden made the media rounds and spouted off the claim. “Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday accused President Trump of ‘rooting for more violence’ at a moment of national unrest over racism and police brutality, offering one of his most extensive responses yet to the Republican argument that he would be a weak leader on law enforcement and criminal justice,” the New York Times wrote.
Biden even made the claim to Todd's colleague, Andrea Mitchell during an interview on her MSNBC show.
They’re not even trying to hide the coordination between the campaign and the rest of the liberal media.
This parroting of the Biden campaign as though it was original analysis was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from General Mills and Walmart. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about what they’re funding.
The transcripts are below, click “expand” to read:
NBC’s Sunday Today
August 30, 2020
8:07:08 a.m. Eastern(…)
WILLIE GEIST: With people now literally dying in the streets, you hate to jump to the politics of this. But President Trump has made it a centerpiece of his re-election campaign, what we are seeing in the streets, the protests in the streets. He talked about it at length during his nomination speech Thursday night. And you'll be looking at it today, I know, on Meet the Press.
As we make the turn to the fall, what does this law and order, as the President, describes it, how does this play into the campaign?
CHUCK TODD: Well, obviously he wants to make it the diversion from focus on the virus. He wants this focus on the inner cities. He believes it's a way for him to have a political comeback here. But I'll tell you, I think there is a ton of risk for the President politically. He can't look like he is rooting for the violence. You heard the comments from Kellyanne Conway on Friday, sort of fed into that perception. The President retweeting, calling the Portland -- the Trump folks in Portland, calling them patriots. He is yet to condemn the vigilante violence. So, he’s -- it's obviously what he is trying to do. But I think he risks looking like he is rooting for violence here, and that's a bad place to be.
GEIST: And he, as Kelly said, he is up and tweeting relentlessly about this issue already this morning.
(…)
Fox News Channel’s Fox News Sunday
August 30, 2020
9:21:05 a.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS WALLACE: The President is inciting violence?
KATE BEDINGFIELD: You saw Donald Trump go to New Hampshire on Friday and say, you know, “protesters my ass.” He’s had every opportunity to speak as a leader, to this nation that is hurting, to speak to people who are struggling, who are trying to rightly seek justice in this moment. But also, who are looking around and who are afraid, who see chaos, who see incredibly unsettled times—
WALLACE: Okay, but answer my question, you said “incite violence.”
BEDINGFIELD: Absolutely, he has. He has encouraged his supporters to go out to be aggressive. You just hear, you were just discussing with Laura Trump. Kellyanne Conway it unapologetically, ‘it is better for this president if there is more anarchy, more violence, more chaos. He has, at every opportunity, tried to fan the flames here. And that is the reason we’re living in Donald Trump’s America.
You know, he’s trying to make this argument.
WALLACE: Okay.
BEDINGFIELD: He is trying to make an argument about Joe Biden’s America, pointing to things that are happening in Donald Trump’s America.
(…)
