Monday morning on the big three broadcast networks brought more regularly scheduled Trump derangement, as anchors and reporters alike worked themselves into a frenzy over comments the former President had made at a New Hampshire campaign rally.
At issue were some particularly spicy remarks Trump had made during a campaign stop in Durham, New Hampshire:
They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done. They’ve poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world — not just in South America… They’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.
The media’s reaction looked exactly like what you’re probably imagining.
On ABC’s Good Morning America, congressional correspondent Rachel Scott accused Trump of “ramping up his attacks on immigrants, using phrases that have clear ties to white supremacy and Hitler.”
Scott laid into Trump with the intensity of a grumpy hall monitor: “The former President also praising dictators. At one point invoking Russian President Vladimir Putin, using quotes from a top U.S. adversary to attack President Biden.”
The gang on NBC’s Today were more measured, with senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez describing Trump’s words merely as “controversial comments about undocumented immigrants.”
Gutierrez stopped short of making his own Hitler reference, instead leaving that dirty work to President Biden: “The Biden Campaign accusing Trump of parroting Adolf Hitler, who used similar wording in his writings.” He added huffily: “But only one of Trump’s Republican rivals have blasted him for the remark.”
That rival was Chris Christie, who called Trump “disgusting” the day after the rally on CNN’s State of the Union. All three broadcast networks made sure to play Christie’s rebuke of the former President.
Meanwhile on CBS Mornings, co-anchor Gayle King and senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe lamented that more Republican candidates hadn’t generated similar anti-Trump sound bites for them to use:
ED O’KEEFE: Beyond Chris Christie, though, haven’t seen as much criticism from fellow Republicans. And again, you look at those [polling] numbers, you can understand. If you’re stuck in a contest with him where you’re trying to win over his supporters even though he’s ahead by so much, it’d be hard to go after him even over something like this. That’s crass politics for you, Gayle.
GAYLE KING: Yeah, they say politics is a bloodsport. A lot of people are bleeding.
It’s a shame our Alex Christy couldn’t predict the future and extend his study of Nazi analogies into December, because these morning shows on Monday would have really juiced those numbers.
