Early Wednesday morning, CBS went DEFCON-1 in reaction to President Trump’s controversial remarks, asserting that not only did he “castrat[e] the facts of the election results,” but his “rhetoric” could be to blame for businesses boarding up in fear of riots and could result in the President facing “repercussions” (read: charges) for what he said at the White House.
Though CBS This Morning co-host, Democratic donor, and Obama family friend Gayle King led the way in the hysteria, CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell took the first plunge by chiming in first after the President.
“Well, the President of the United States castrating the facts of the election results that have been reported tonight, falsely claiming that he has won the election and disenfranchising millions of voters whose ballots have not been counted sadly because of the raging pandemic and the failures of the administration to contain the pandemic,” she opined.
King fretted that what she heard was “so disturbing” was “because the message that it sends to his supporters” and therefore was “why people are boarding up the — the stores because he sends a message to his supporters that when the true count comes out, maybe it will be in his favor, maybe not.”
Without evidence, she added: “But if it's not in his — if it is — if it's not in his favor, he has already planted the seed that this election has been stolen from him. And that's why this is such a dangerous thing he's just done.”
King also helped whip up her colleagues into a frenzy (click “expand”):
KING: He's put out a false narrative —
ED O’KEEFE: He is. Yes.
KING: — that many will now believe.
O’KEEFE: Yes.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Yes.
KING: That's what's troubling about it.
O’DONNELL: And he was furthured by that by people giving him a mouthpiece to do that. Let's bring in David Becker, who is our election law expert. And David, under what legal grounds could the President proceed as he says he wants to?
DAVID BECKER: Well, none that I know of. You all just nailed it. I mean, nearly everything the President just said was false. I mean, there were — we know there were over 100 million early ballots cast in this election but we'll only counted about 130 million ballots so far and that doesn't quite add up with the election day turnout we think we expected and we saw. So there's probably tens of millions of ballots and it's really important to understand, these are all ballots. Voting is not still going on. These ballots were cast already.
KING: Yes.
BECKER: They were cast under the laws of the states, and they were cast by the deadline. They — some mail ballots might be coming in later that were postmarked. A lot of mail ballots came in today. But this process is still ongoing.
Speaking to CBS News election law expert David Becker, King actually wondered whether Trump could “face any repercussions for what he just said” as “[h]e just out and out lied to the American people.”
Becker didn’t swat any of this poppycock down, replying that such behavior was “something we've dealt with for quite some time with this President” and “[t]here hasn't seemed to be any repercussions yet, unfortunately.”
Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan replied to this by fretting that he’s “truly throw[n] a match on a big puddle of fuel because this is the scenario that we were hoping didn't exist where those boarded up windows and that anticipation of people feeling somehow disenfranchised rather than excited.”
60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson concurred, saying Trump’s “trying to turn the democratic process into something sinister” and that all Republicans “have an obligation” and “duty to their country” to denounce Trump.
Just when you thought there was no hyperventilating left to do, King and Becker continued to wear down the proverbial brown paper bag (click “expand”):
KING: David, what is the danger — I have one more question for him. What is the danger of the President doing something like this? Before this election, we were told we kept hearing democracy is at stake. America is at stake. Truth is at stake. What is the danger of the President doing something like this?
BECKER: Well, Gayle, you are exactly right and you pointed it out earlier. There are many, many millions of people who listened to what the President says and look to him for leadership and guidance. And unfortunately, he's steering them wrong right now. It may very well be that he comes out on top on election night or well after election night after we've counted all the ballots but we need to let that process play out. If he were truly confident, you'd expect he would let that process play out because he would ultimately be declared the winner in a process that was upheld by Democratic and Republican election officials but he doesn't seem as if that's the direction he's going right now and he's steering his own supporters wrong and probably leading to some more division that we're seeing in this country.
Things continued after the 3:00 a.m. Eastern when CBS This Morning co-host Tony Dokupil relieved many of the above characters, but kept the narrative going in blaming Trump for possible violence:
The votes are still being counted. It's also worth underscoring that the reason there are boarded up buildings in cities all across America is because people are concerned that rhetoric like we just heard from the President and a protracted legal battle which appears to be what we could be headed for, could lead some supporters of both candidates into the streets, and there could be trouble.
CBS’s gaslighting over all-too-predictable remarks from Trump were made possible by advertisers such as Allegra. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from November 4, click “expand.”
CBS News 2020: Election Night -- America Decides
November 4, 2020
2:30 a.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: Well, the President of the United States castrating the facts of the election results that have been reported tonight, falsely claiming that he has won the election and disenfranchising millions of voters whose ballots have not been counted sadly because of the raging pandemic and the failures of the administration to contain the pandemic. There has been a massive vote-by-mail operation and those votes have not yet been counted.
(....)
2:33 a.m. Eastern
GAYLE KING: And you know why this is so disturbing is because the message that it sends to his supporters. This is why people are boarding up the — the stores because he sends a message to his supporters that when the true count comes out, maybe it will be in his favor, maybe not. But if it's not in his — if it is — if it's not in his favor, he has already planted the seed that this election has been stolen from him. And that's why this is such a dangerous thing he's just done.
(....)
2:35 a.m. Eastern
KING: He's put out a false narrative —
ED O’KEEFE: He is. Yes.
KING: — that many will now believe.
O’KEEFE: Yes.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Yes.
KING: That's what's troubling about it.
O’DONNELL: And he was furthured by that by people giving him a mouthpiece to do that. Let's bring in David Becker, who is our election law expert. And David, under what legal grounds could the President proceed as he says he wants to?
DAVID BECKER: Well, none that I know of. You all just nailed it. I mean, nearly everything the president just said was false. I mean, there were — we know there were over 100 million early ballots cast in this election but we'll only counted about 130 million ballots so far and that doesn't quite add up with the election day turnout we think we expected and we saw. So there's probably tens of millions of ballots and it's really important to understand, these are all ballots. Voting is not still going on. These ballots were cast already.
KING: Yes.
BECKER: They were cast under the laws of the states, and they were cast by the deadline. They — some mail ballots might be coming in later that were postmarked. A lot of mail ballots came in today. But this process is still ongoing.
(....)
2:37 a.m. Eastern
KING: Can I ask you, does the president face any repercussions for what he just said? He just out and out lied to the American people?
BECKER: Well, I mean, this is something we've dealt with for quite some time with this President. And especially when it comes to the elections process, we've seen a lot of false statements, whether it's about distrust of the mail voting system, the existence of alleged fraud that we know doesn't exist on any kind of scale. There hasn't seemed to be any repercussions yet unfortunately. Hopefully the votes will be counted. We'll know who won. It might be President Trump. It might be vice president Biden. We still have tens of millions of ballots left to count.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But this is truly throwing a match on a big puddle of fuel because this is the scenario that we were hoping didn't exist where those boarded up windows and that anticipation of people feeling somehow disenfranchised rather than excited that in the midst of this national crisis an election was carried out. Now you have doubt being raised very directly. Not just doubt but actual accusations of somehow the President being wrong. It's a very flammable situation that we are in, and we are going into right now this having been said.
KING: You know, it's so interesting. He's been asked leading up to this, will you accept the results? And he would always say, well, no, I don't know. The truth of the matter is we don't have results for you to accept one way or another and he's already not accepting what we do have so far.
JOHN DICKERSON: You know, the democratic process gives the President his power.
KING: Yes.
DICKERSON: And he's trying to turn the democratic process into something sinister. The democratic process also gives every member of his party who was elected tonight or re-elected tonight their power. And he is — they have an obligation, it seems to me, to speak up when the President of the United States tries to make the democratic process into something sinister.
KING: And who would that be, John, who would speak up?
DICKERSON: Any of them who have a duty to their country.
O’DONNELL: Yeah, you can imagine.
KING: A lot of options.
O’KEEFE: Many of them will say they were already asleep and didn't see it.
(....)
2:41 a.m. Eastern
KING: David, what is the danger — I have one more question for him. What is the danger of the President doing something like this? Before this election, we were told we kept hearing democracy is at stake. America is at stake. Truth is at stake. What is the danger of the President doing something like this?
BECKER: Well, Gayle, you are exactly right and you pointed it out earlier. There are many, many millions of people who listened to what the President says and look to him for leadership and guidance. And unfortunately, he's steering them wrong right now. It may very well be that he comes out on top on election night or well after election night after we've counted all the ballots but we need to let that process play out. If he were truly confident, you'd expect he would let that process play out because he would ultimately be declared the winner in a process that was upheld by Democratic and Republican election officials but he doesn't seem as if that's the direction he's going right now and he's steering his own supporters wrong and probably leading to some more division that we're seeing in this country.
(....)
3:07 a.m. Eastern
TONY DOKUPIL: The votes are still being counted. It's also worth underscoring that the reason there are boarded up buildings in cities all across America is because people are concerned that rhetoric like we just heard from the President and a protracted legal battle which appears to be what we could be headed for, could lead some supporters of both candidates into the streets, and there could be trouble.
