ABC World News Tonight closed out a report on the ongoing Republican presidential primary by echoing Biden campaign talking points on upcoming campaign stops, which are aimed at highlighting “the stakes” of the 2024 election.
Watch as correspondent Rachel Scott helpfully informs viewers of upcoming Biden events at historic sites to be exploited for political gain and the creation of “symbolic moments”:
RACHEL SCOTT: And David, President Biden is expected to travel to two deeply symbolic places to draw direct contrast with Donald Trump. On the third anniversary of January 6th, the president will deliver remarks near Valley Forge, that historic site where George Washington commanded the troops during the Revolutionary War. And then on Monday, President Biden expected to speak inside that historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine people were gunned down by a white supremacist. His campaign says this is meant to send a message about what's at stake this election. David.
The report opens with President Donald Trump’s appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling throwing him off the ballot. From there, it switches to the GOP presidential primary; adverse reporting on Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) wherein a voter accuses him of going soft on Trump, and neutral to positive coverage of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who proffers a full quote on the awesomeness of getting attacked by Trump.
The report then closes out with the Biden events.
Thrown in at the end, a figurative last word intended to convey Biden campaign messaging to viewers. “What’s at stake” is the 2024 variant of “Democracy is on the ballot” and that Biden is its sole defender. It sounds like a throwaway line but it is really a frame intended to draw viewers away from the GOP portions of the report, and to ensure that this, the Biden tour, is the last thing they remember about this report.
By the way, ABC News reports that the Biden campaign has rescheduled the Valley Forge event and concomitant Defense of Our Democracy due to inclement weather. Just as George Washington did during the bleak winter of 1777.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024:
DAVID MUIR: Back here at home and to the race for the White House. Late today, former President Trump officially asking the Supreme Court now to overturn the decision by Colorado's Supreme Court to remove him from the ballot there. Trump wants the nation's highest court now to ensure he will appear on primary ballots across this country. And in Iowa tonight, Ron Desantis, and the moment with a voter there asking, with Trump 30 points ahead in Iowa, why won't Desantis take Trump on more directly? Here's Rachel Scott tonight.
RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, Donald Trump formally calling on the Supreme Court to throw out a Colorado court's ruling blocking him from appearing on the state's ballot. That Colorado court citing the 14th Amendment, which bans an "Officer of the United States" who swore an oath to the Constitution and engaged in insurrection from holding office. Tonight, Trump's lawyers arguing "the president is not an officer of the United States," adding what happened on January 6th "Was not ‘insurrection’", and President Trump "in no way engaged in insurrection." Finally, Trump asking the Supreme Court to "return the right to vote for their candidate of choice to the voters." Here in Iowa, voters will soon have their say. Trump leads by 30 points. And today, Florida governor Ron Desantis, pressed on why he isn't hitting Trump harder.
VOTER: Why haven't you gone directly after him? In polls, you're down. He's, you know- up, really…
RON DESANTIS: What do you mean by going directly after him?
VOTER: I mean, you're -- in my viewpoint, you're going pretty soft on him.
DESANTIS: I think the narrative is this, I think what the media wants is they want Republican candidates to just kind of like smear him personally and kind of do that --
VOTER: No, no.
DESANTIS: That's just not how I roll.
SCOTT: Meanwhile in New Hampshire, polls show former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley pulling into second place, and now finding herself the target of new Trump attacks.
NIKKI HALEY: I got to say I love it, because I know that means he sees what we're seeing. But literally, these temper tantrums that he's having and these commercials that I'm seeing that you're watching, every one of them is a lie.
SCOTT: And David, President Biden is expected to travel to two deeply symbolic places to draw direct contrast with Donald Trump. On the third anniversary of January 6th, the president will deliver remarks near Valley Forge, that historic site where George Washington commanded the troops during the Revolutionary War. And then on Monday, President Biden expected to speak inside that historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine people were gunned down by a white supremacist. His campaign says this is meant to send a message about what's at stake this election. David.
MUIR: Rachel Scott in Iowa. Thank you, Rachel.
