When President Trump took office four years ago and took a pen and a phone to President Obama’s signature policy accomplishments, the liberal media looked on in horror as they decried Trump for dismantling his legacy. But now, they looked on with glee as President Biden set out to “unravel the last four years,” as the CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell put it, with a stack of 17 executive orders not long after getting in the White House.
O’Donnell set the tone for her broadcast in the opening tease, declaring: “Tonight, the President gets down to business, working to unravel the last four years, signing 17 executive actions, including a mask mandate exactly one year since the first case of coronavirus came to our shores.”
In her second round of teases (because CBS feels like repeated what they just said literally just seconds prior, only live), O’Donnell touted how Biden was “already getting down to business” and “signing a series of sweeping executive actions that roll back his predecessor's policies and recommit America to being part of the global community.”
And when she finally got around to now-senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe’s report on the executive orders, O’Donnell cheered as she described Wednesday as more than “just a day for celebration. It's a workday!”
“Mr. Biden wasted no time getting to work in the Oval Office, signing executive orders ending construction launched by President Trump on the Southern border wall, scrapping his so-called Muslim travel ban, and rejoining the Paris climate agreement,” O’Keefe touted.
Over on CNN, at the top of the 11:00 p.m. Eastern hour, host Jake Tapper echoed the excitement to the sundering of Trump’s policies. “Biden has already signed a flurry of executive orders and actions working to undo much of the legacy of Donald Trump,” he boasted.
After playing soundbites from Biden’s inaugural address, he introduced newly minted chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins to tout: “President Biden with the stroke of a pen is currently undoing much of the actions of his predecessor.”
Collins built off of Tapper’s glee, bragging of the “full scale … assault” against Trump’s agenda:
Yeah, Jake, I don't think it should go unnoticed just how full-scale this assault on the Donald Trump agenda really is during this first day in office. Not even his first full day in office. Because you saw him there in the Oval when reporters came in when he was signing some of these executive actions.
You see how many there are there, Jake, stacked up next to him.
And what we are hearing from White House officials is there are more to come.
Both CBS and CNN also used terms designed to paint former President Trump as a fugitive on the run. According to O’Donnell, Trump’s refusal to attend the inauguration ceremony and return home to Florida meant he “skipped town this morning.” Meanwhile, Tapper suggested Trump “fled Washington before the transfer of power took place.”
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
January 20, 2021
6:31:04 p.m. Eastern (Opening Tease)NORAH O’DONNELL: Tonight, the President gets down to business, working to unravel the last four years, signing 17 executive actions, including a mask mandate exactly one year since the first case of coronavirus came to our shores.
(…)
6:32:54 p.m. Eastern
O’DONNELL: And tonight, in a newly redecorated Oval Office, he's already getting down to business, signing a series of sweeping executive actions that roll back his predecessor's policies and recommit America to being part of the global community.
(…)
6:38:11 p.m. Eastern
O’DONNELL: For the new administration, this isn't just a day for celebration. It's a workday! And tonight, the President has jumped right into pushing his agenda.
(…)
6:38:48 p.m. Eastern
ED O’KEEFE: Mr. Biden wasted no time getting to work in the Oval Office, signing executive orders ending construction launched by President Trump on the Southern border wall, scrapping his so-called Muslim travel ban, and rejoining the Paris climate agreement.
(…)
CNN 2021 Presidential Inauguration
January 20, 2021
11:01:08 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: And the President, the new president is not trying to sugarcoat the enormous challenges he and we as a nation are inheriting from President Trump. Biden has already signed a flurry of executive orders and actions working to undo much of the legacy of Donald Trump, who fled Washington before the transfer of power took place. Now, President Biden is trying to appeal to end what he calls America's uncivil war.
(…)
11:03:39 p.m. Eastern
TAPPER: I want to bring in CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins now. And Kaitlan, President Biden with the stroke of a pen is currently undoing much of the actions of his predecessor.
KAITLAN COLLINS: Yeah, Jake, I don't think it should go unnoticed just how full-scale this assault on the Donald Trump agenda really is during this first day in office. Not even his first full day in office. Because you saw him there in the Oval when reporters came in when he was signing some of these executive actions.
You see how many there are there, Jake, stacked up next to him.
And what we are hearing from White House officials is there are more to come.
(…)
