While NBC’s Today gave predictably sober, serious coverage Thursday to its Republican presidential debate from the night before, ABC’s Good Morning America lampooned the debate as a pointless trip into the “Twilight Zone” and “divorced from reality” and CBS Mornings dismissed its necessity given the “disciplined” and “smart” race being run by the Donald Trump campaign.
After a recap of the debate’s big moments from senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos turned to chief Washington correspondent and soon-to-be three-time-bestselling anti-Trump author Jon Karl and complimented him for “hav[ing] the perfect headline for this debate: the Twilight Zone debate.”
Karl started with the admission that he thought Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley had good debates, but the praise stopped there as he lampooned the debate as a waste of time:
But this was a debate from another dimension. This was the twilight zone debate where Donald Trump doesn't exist. He was barely mentioned. And you would — you know, as they fought each other, there's no sense of a reality that none of them is within 30 or 40 points of Donald Trump. He is the far and away frontrunner[.]
Sure, Karl can huff and puff about the dangers of Trump, but no one should be bamboozled into thinking Karl isn’t in it for the Resistance cash and clicks and thus would be fine with infinite Trump campaigns.
“Nikki Haley can beat up Vivek Ramaswamy all she wants but she’s going to have to find a way to take down Donald Trump,” Karl boasted with no admission of irony that he’s ripping Trump’s opponents while talking up his supposed authoritarianism.
Stephanopoulos kept up the invective, saying the night was “divorced from reality” as it “[came] on the heels of this election day this week where Republicans took another beating.”
Karl used that to highlight Vivek Ramaswamy’s line about the GOP having “become a party of losers” and how he blamed RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel but not the person who’s stood with her (Donald Trump).
He could have instead pointed out DeSantis has done both in recent years, but that’d mean amplifying someone ABC’s parent company Disney loathes with the heat of a thousand suns.
Karl did close with another note about Haley:
But...Nikki Haley is — is trying to get into a position where Donald Trump implodes and she is there to take the reins. You can see her in a general election debate. I think Republican voters are warming to her. But she's got to take down Trump somehow.
Over on CBS Mornings, former Rubio 2016 presidential campaign manager and CBS News political contributor Terry Sullivan similarly dismissed the discussion of other candidates as a waste, citing (national) polls:
Look, Donald Trump still has over 50 percent of the vote in this primary. They have a math problem. This is Common Core math. This isn’t political strategy and they need to figure out how to start chipping away at that, and it’s not by going after each other’s clothing choices.
Co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King argued that candidates should “have to participate in the debates” if they want to be president, but Sullivan hit back it’s one of many “things” that voters don’t “really care about” except “on the fringes.”
Instead, Sullivan praised the Trump campaign as not only “smart,” but “much smarter...than [Trump’s] ever run before”, adding Trump himself has been “disciplined,” “not flailing around as much,” and “ma[de] smart choices.”
To see the relevant transcripts from November 9, click “expand.”
ABC’s Good Morning America
November 9, 2023
7:05 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking Overnight; Fiery Republican Debate Face-Off; Five Hopefuls Trade Attacks & Insults as Trump Skips Event]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s bring in our chief Washington correspondent Jon Karl. Jon, you have the perfect headline for this debate: the Twilight Zone debate.
JONATHAN KARL: Absolutely. Look, this was a debate — Nikki Haley had a very strong performance once again. Chris Christie tried to look presidential, pleading for unity. DeSantis may have been slightly better than he was in the past. But this was a debate from another dimension. This was the twilight zone debate where Donald Trump doesn't exist. He was barely mentioned. And you would — you know, as they fought each other, there's no sense of a reality that none of them is within 30 or 40 points of Donald Trump. He is the far and away frontrunner and Nikki Haley can beat up Vivek Ramaswamy all she wants but she’s going to have to find a way to take down Donald Trump.
STEPHANOPOULOS: In other way it was somewhat divorced from reality, it comes on the heels of this election day this week where Republicans took another beating.
KARL: Yeah. And — and Ramaswamy had a line last night that stood out to me. He said we've become a party of losers. And, objectively, there's a lot of evidence for that. Ever since 2016 when Donald Trump won the White House, Republicans have lost a series of races, virtually every election cycle you've seen Republican losses. But Ramaswamy put the blame on the party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. No mention of Donald Trump. But, you know, look, basically, I think Nikki Haley is — is trying to get into a position where Donald Trump implodes and she is there to take the reins. You can see her in a general election debate. I think Republican voters are warming to her. But she's got to take down Trump somehow.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Jon Karl, thanks very much.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBS Mornings [via KHOU]
November 9, 2023
8:03 a.m. Central[SCREEN HEADLINE: America Decides; Breaking Down the GOP Debate; Terry Sullivan & Joel Payne on Candidate Performances]
TERRY SULLIVAN: But, look, what stood out to me was addressed the elephant not in the room.
GAYLE KING: Yeah.
SULLIVAN: Look, Donald Trump still has over 50 percent of the vote in this primary. They have a math problem. This is Common Core math. This isn’t political strategy and they need to figure out how to start chipping away at that, and it’s not by going after each other’s clothing choices.
KING: And him not coming to any of the debates is not hurting him at all. If you are running for president, shouldn’t you have to participate in the debates?
SULLIVAN: But —
KING: Is that an issue —
SULLIVAN: — there’s lots of —
KING: at all?
SULLIVAN: — things — not that voters really care about.
KING: They don’t?
SULLIVAN: Maybe a little bit on the fringes, but he’s running a smart campaign. We should give credit to his campaign and his — his — you know, folks that they’re running a much smarter campaign than he’s ever run before. He’s more disciplined. He’s making smart choices. He’s not flailing around nearly as much, by Donald Trump standards.
TONY DOKOUPIL: Yeah.
SULLIVAN: I mean, why would he go to a debate when you’re winning?
