On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC went gaga and played state-run media over President Biden’s “historic visit” “standing shoulder to shoulder” with striking United Auto Workers (UAW), but ignored the fact that Biden’s visit to the picket line only lasted 12 minutes before he returned to Air Force One and set off to Silicon Valley for a far-left fundraiser organized by a pro-defund the police couple.
Imagine if Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis only visited a working class group for 12 minutes before jetting off to, say, Florida or Long Island for a fundraiser.
ABC’s World News Tonight anchor David Muir was jazzed, cheering Biden “supporting thousands of UAW members” and joining a picket line “for the first time ever.”
Senior national correspondent Terry Moran joined in, boasting that “President Biden made history today as the first President ever to walk the picket line...[i]n a show of solidarity with autoworkers.”
And on Wednesday’s Good Morning America, Moran returned with more gusto:
President Biden making history with that unprecedented show of solidarity with the striking autoworkers, joining the picket line at a General Motors facility just a few miles from here and becoming the first President to stand with striking workers on a pick[.]et line. And Biden went further. He openly sided with the union and endorsed their demands
To his credit, though, he admitted Trump’s Michigan visit would hit the Biden regime on electric vehicles because the calls to “shift the country to electric vehicles” is “a huge issue for many of the workers here who worry that shift could cost them their jobs.”
But, again, nothing about Biden’s token visit before shipping out to a ritzy fundraiser in California.
Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos had the setup for Moran: “Now to President Biden. He’s on the picket line, unprecedented for a president. He’s joining striking autoworkers during a visit to in Michigan encouraged the union to stick with it.”
CBS had more of the same. CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell boasted of “President Biden’s historic trip to Michigan to walk the picket line” while correspondent Robert Costa painted Biden as an everyman: “Wearing a union ball cap and armed with a bullhorn, President Biden told the striking United Auto Workers to keep fighting for higher wages.”
“For President Biden, who exchanged fist bumps with the workers, the historic visit to the picket line was personal and political, underscoring a long career backing labor,” he added.
Shifting to CBS Mornings, Costa returned: “President Biden encouraged striking autoworkers to stick with it and became the first president to join a picket line.”
Monday’s NBC Nightly News opened with Biden in Michigan. Anchor Lester Holt swooned in a tease: “Biden making history, becoming the first sitting president to join a picket line. President Biden with a bullhorn, urging autoworkers to stick with it in their fight”.
Holt then cheered in the lead-in that Biden “today inserted himself in a labor dispute in a way no other modern president has” by “standing shoulder to shoulder with picketers as UAW leader Shawn Fain railed against corporate greed.”
Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez played stenographer from Detroit: “In a historic visit, a U.S. President on the picket line, throwing his full-throated support behind the striking United Auto Workers...President Biden at a General Motors plant outside Detroit, wearing a UAW hat, and standing shoulder to shoulder with union President Shawn Fain.”
Wednesday’s Today had co-host Savannah Guthrie and correspondent Maggie Vespa on the case. Here was part of that (click “expand”):
GUTHRIE: We move now to the United Auto Workers strike and that history-making site yesterday. For the first time, a sitting president joining a union picket line and telling members they deserve a significant raise. Donald Trump is also set to address striking workers, he’s traveling to Michigan today. NBC’s Maggie Vespa is at the GM facility where President Biden spoke yesterday. Maggie, good morning.
MAGGIE VESPA: Hey, Savannah, good morning. Yeah, and the enormity of that visit not lost on workers here. One worker telling me the President’s comments on pay were, “amazing,” adding if it comes from the President, she hopes the American people will listen. At the same time, members here also know former President Trump’s visit tonight will bring a spotlight of its own, the question is will the publicity of politics translate into progress in talks with the big three
(....)
VESPA: This morning, auto workers on strike against America’s big three car companies counting the commander in chief as a historic ally. President Biden becoming the first president to join a picket line at this GM parts facility near Detroit on Tuesday.
(....)
VESPA: What was it like to see an actually sitting President show up here to say those things?
FEMALE AUTO WORKER: Awesome. Fantastic. Hooray. Thank you.
(....)
VESPA: During his visit, President Biden answering a question about the call for 40 percent raises.
REPORTER SHOUTING [TO BIDEN] Mr. President, should the UAW get a 40 percent raise?
BIDEN: Yes, I think they should be able to bargain for that.
To see the relevant transcripts from September 26, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). And to see the transcripts from September 27, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
