Having spent a gargantuan 168 minutes alone on the Trump trial from start to finish (April 15-May 31), ABC’s Good Morning America reacted as you’d expect on Friday to Thursday’s verdict with incessant reactions ranging from faux solemnity to openly partisan to pathetically disconnected from reality.
Co-host and former Clinton tool George Stephanopoulos opened as he’s down throughout the trial, which is a mini-monologue of sorts with a pensive look and hushed tone. This time, he gushed over the jurors as though they’re deities:
And we begin, Michael, with another first in American history. Donald Trump, now the first and only man who’s held the presidency to face a felony conviction. There you see the verdict sheet filled out by a New York jury. Guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election that made him president. This is the third time this year that citizen jurors have held Trump accountable. In January, an $83.3 million judgment for defaming E. Jean Carroll. In February, a $450 million judgment for civil fraud in his business dealings. Juries. Ordinary people doing their duty under enormous stress, demonstrating civic courage. Remarkably, convicted felons can run for president. So, this year, in this extraordinary time, American voters will be the ultimate jurors. We’re going to cover the fallout of this unprecedented event.
Correspondent Aaron Katersky sounded moved like he was during ABC’s special report as he called what occurred “extraordinary.”
During his taped segment, Katersky added that “Trump and his allies cast doubt on his conviction, harnessing Trump’s political power and his grip on the Republican Party to rally supporters around calls for retaliation ahead of the election this fall.”
ABC’s coverage took an even more embarrassing turn when it brought in Michael Cohen and Stephanopoulos treated him like a therapist speaking to a shaken patient (click “expand”):
STEPHANOPOULOS: We are joined now by the star witness, Michael Cohen. Michael, thanks for coming back —
COHEN: Good to see you, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: — on GMA. You were here with us, sitting in that chair in March 2023. You predicted this outcome, so you’re not surprised.
COHEN: No, I’m not. In fact, next month, George, is when you and I sat down for that historic change in my life. That was July 1 of 2018 —
STEPHANOPOULOS: 2018!
COHEN: — six years ago, when I told you that my wife, my daughter, my son and my country have my first loyalty and this has been one heck of a journey in order to see this.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It has been one heckuva journey. How about that time in the courtroom? What was the toughest moment for you?
COHEN: I really didn’t have a single moment that was tougher than the 21 hours that they had me on the stand, whether it was on direct or on cross-examination. The whole thing was very tough. It’s emotionally draining because you have to be perfect. I knew that any mistake that I made would be just — it would — it would become the topic of conversation that would just explode. And so, I really just needed to stay focused. And it wasn’t easy with Todd Blanche. He’s a meanderer as it goes to questioning.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He called you the greatest liar of all time. You’ve been convicted for lying. Are you done lying?
(....)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you have any moments in the courtroom where you actually had some kind of contact, communication with Donald Trump?
At another point, Stephanopoulos fretted Cohen “spent years fighting for Donald Trump, bullying people for Donald Trump, even lying, as you just said, for Donald Trump, in coordination with his people” before asking if he “wish[ed] you’d never met him.”
Cohen replied it’s been “enormously difficult on my family more than anything” because they’ve “suffer[ed] as a direct result of my actions and the misloyalty that I gave to Donald”.
As we’d also see on CBS, Stephanopoulos and Cohen expressed exasperation that anyone would vote for Trump and the Republican Party (since they presumably view issues such as the economy, education, immigration, and inflation as wholly secondary to Trump being a danger) (click “expand”):
STEPHANOPOULOS: As you know, there are a lot of Republican officeholders out here, including the Speaker of the House who are saying this is a grace. They are still backing Donald Trump. What’s your message to voters who are still considering voting for Donald Trump for president?
COHEN: I’m not sure how this makes any sense. This is not just a felon, convict, but it’s also a man who has openly stated he wants to rewrite the Constitution on day one. He wants to be a dictator. Not my words. His words. He wants to — he wants to destroy our tripartite system of government. He wants to get rid of the judiciary and the legislative branch and confer all power to the executive branch, meaning himself — turning himself into a king, a monarch. This country, for 259 years has followed one simple principle, democracy based on the Constitution. He wants to rewrite it as if he could. It’s — it’s just terrible, so how it is that he’s still even in the running, why anybody would want to vote for somebody who is anti-democratic makes no sense to me.
With World News Tonight anchor David Muir not around to beat the drum suggesting how polling spells doom for Trump’s electoral prospects, that task fell to political director Rick Klein and tout the May 5 ABC News/Ipsos poll about 20 percent of Trump voters who “would either reconsider or withdraw their support based on a conviction”.
“That’s one in five Trump voters which is an enormous number in an election expected to be as close as this one,” he boasted.
Speaking moments later to congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Stephanopoulos returned to expressing disgust and shock Americans would vote Republican (and, therefore, not for Biden): “And, Rachel, remarkably and yet, predictably, Republican politicians falling in line to — to support a convicted felon.”
A far-left hack herself, Scott whined about Trump’s “very tight grip on the Republican party and the indictments didn’t really matter for most of the Republican Party”, but refused to consider why that would be the case and that, perhaps, other issues take precedent.
She remained in denial, though: “In a lot of ways, George, the Republican Party is now closer to the former President even after this guilty verdict.”
To see the relevant transcript from May 31, click here.
