On Friday, ABC, CBS, and NBC engaged in some farcical gaslighting during their Friday morning news shows by implying it’s been former President Donald Trump — instead of Vice President Kamala Harris, who has completely avoided questions (until a brief softball session Thursday) and zero interviews — that’s been guilty of ducking reporters and, when he has, peddled “false and misleading statements” plus “dire warnings” about the world.
They also went full-court press on Trump for agreeing to allow the Democrats to switch out President Biden for Harris on the September 10 ABC debate. On Friday and in the days prior, they insisted it’s Trump who’s the scaredy cat and excused Harris from having to accept Trump’s calls for two more.
ABC’s Good Morning America was, as usual, the worst. Senior White House correspondent Selina Wang gushed that “Trump [made] that announcement from his Mar-a-Lago home while Harris and her new running mate have been blitzing through battleground states.”
ABC's Selina Wang argues that it's Trump who's been "waffling on his commitment" to debates, excused Kamala Harris only wanting to do one debate, and merely passing along the fact that Harris has ignored reporters.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 9, 2024
State-run TV. pic.twitter.com/Mbb9WxnaCx
“The debate, one Trump agreed to when President Biden was still in the race, despite waffling on his commitment the last few weeks when Harris ascended to the top of the ticket,” she then added, ignoring the fact that he hadn’t originally agreed to debate Harris under ABC’s auspices.
Wang further groveled: “During a more than one-hour-long press conference, Trump repeating false and misleading statements, include the Vice President’s intelligence, criticizing her press availability.”
When it came to Trump daring Harris to two other debates, Wang defended Harris with her excuse that she “remains focused on the ABC News debate”
She hit a sugar high towards the end with a boast that “[t]he Harris campaign still riding high on the jolt of enthusiasm”.
Showing how much of a partisan she was, Wang refused to use the necessary bandwidth to point out Trump will head to Montana not because of it being a tight race at the top of the ticket, but to support Eric Sheehy in a competitive Senate race: “And Trump finally today getting back on the campaign trail, holding a rally tonight in Montana, which is a reliably red state.”
NBC threw anti-Trump correspondent Garrett Haake out on Today, which kicked off with a both sides-ism on who’s been avoiding reporters:
These two campaigns who have agreed on almost nothing have agreed to at least that one debate next month in New York City. That was one key development to come out of a lengthy Donald Trump press conference yesterday, in which he called out Kamala Harris for avoiding reporter questions while making plenty of news on how he answered and avoided the questions that he faced.
Oh, so we’re supposed to make a bigger deal out of how the candidate who talks to the media speaks to them versus the one who’s been in a campaign version of witness protection?
NBC's Garrett Haake went on 'Today' and put greater emphasis on Trump "making plenty of news on how he answered and avoid the questions" and "back[ing] off of online threats" to not debate Harris instead of how *SHE* completely avoided questions until yesterday and hasn't done a… pic.twitter.com/cwaRizTm8U
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 9, 2024
Haake continued to spin his wheels (click “expand”):
HAAKE: This morning, after weeks of uncertainty, the stage is now set for a presidential debate showdown between Vice President Harris and former President Trump next month. The former President Trump announcing at a news conference he’s agreed to a debate against Harris in September 10, backing off online threats not to show and saying he’s also up for two additional showdowns.
TRUMP: We’d like to do three debates.
HAAKE: Harris noncommittal on additional debates.
HARRIS: Well, I’m glad he’s finally agreed to a debate on September 10. I’m looking forward to it and hope he shows up.
HAAKE: Mr. Trump’s own news conference packed with personal attacks and falsehoods[.]
(....)
HAAKE: This as polls show the race tightening nationwide. [TO TRUMP] To what do you attribute her rise in the polls?
TRUMP: She’s a woman. She represents certain groups of people. But I will say this, when people find out about her I think she will be much less.
HAAKE: Harris shrugging off Trump’s criticisms.
HARRIS: I was too busy talking to voters. I didn’t hear ‘em.
Haake made sure to defend Harris’s running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), for lying about his military service, saying she “did stop to” talk to reporters” so she could “defend” Walz as “[t]he Trump campaign has seized on past comments”.
Haake closed with what his handlers at the Harris campaign want him to focus on: abortion.
CBS Mornings co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King made the contrast her friends probably wanted her to:
Trump talked about [the September 10 debate] during a very lengthy news conference yesterday. It was filled with attacks against the Democrats, while Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, courted union members in the battleground state of Michigan.
Campaign and White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe put Harris and Trump going before reporters on an equal plane:
On 'CBS Mornings', Ed O'Keefe puts Kamala Harris and Donald Trump taking questions from reporters on an equal plane, arguing in Trump's case it had been "the first time in months".
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 9, 2024
In Trump's case, O'Keefe said he "personally attack[ed]" Harris and leaned into "dire warnings" pic.twitter.com/9eySweGZ2c
O’Keefe then pivoted to public relations for Democrats (click “expand”):
O’KEEFE: Harris and running mate Tim Walz campaigned Thursday in Michigan alongside members of the United Autoworkers.
HARRIS: The true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down. It's based on who you lift up.
O’KEEFE: The UAW president, Shawn Fain, had signaled Sunday he preferred Harris pick a union-friendly running mate like Walz.
SHAWN FAIN [on CBS’s Face the Nation, 08/04/24]: He’s an awesome guy for labor.
O’KEEFE: Thursday, the Minnesota governor warned union households about supporting Trump.
GOVERNOR TIM WALZ (D-MN): If Trump returns, he's going to learn something, he didn't get the job done. This time, it will be far, far worse, and he will get the job done and make sure that we can't organize collectively to improve our lives.
O’KEEFE: Now, Harris and Walz are waking up this morning in Arizona where they will rally with supporters tonight in the Phoenix area before heading to Las Vegas tomorrow. Former President Trump is headed to Bozeman, Montana, for a fundraiser and campaign rally in a reliably red state where Republicans hope to flip a Senate seat.
To see the relevant transcripts from August 9, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
