On Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes — which ironically ran for 90 minutes — CBS host Scott Pelley had a brief update on the 2024 election fallout and the second Trump transition that, in less than two minutes, proved the Trump campaign’s point that now-President-Elect Donald Trump was right to boycott the show’s offer for an October sit-down.
Pelley’s first sentence was the only one that wasn’t dripping with disgust: “This past week, Republicans won the House majority and President-elect Trump made nominations to his Cabinet.” The second one began the manure-slinging: “Some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump.”
Let this serve as the latest example of how the liberal media think the only way a cabinet should be constructed is a romanticization of Lincoln’s Team of Rivals when, in reality, assembling such rivals would leak to the liberal media’s favorite kind of administration official: leakers.
Pelley had nothing nasty to say about Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) nomination to lead the State Department, but only nasty things to say about Pete Hegseth, whom Pelley painted as someone who must be a dumb-dumb (and omitting his Ivy League credentials): “Pete Hegseth to lead the 3 million people of the Department of Defense. He’s a combat veteran most recently, a morning show host on Fox News with no government experience.”
He continued the melting down for former House members Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI). In the case of Gabbard, Pelley left out her lengthy military service:
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general in charge of law enforcement. Gaetz has been investigated by Republicans for alleged drug use and sex with a minor. Gaetz denies those allegations. Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for director of National Intelligence. She sought a pardon for Edward Snowden who leaked U.S. secrets and now lives in Russia.
Of course, he closed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, tagging him as “a skeptic of vaccinations” and one of many nominations that’ll face a Republican Senate.
The Senate, Pelley argued with a tinge of disgust, will have “to decide whether these nominees are equipped to represent the American people.”
This smug prick immediately pivoted to his lead story (and a genuinely moving on at that) about how the New York City coroner’s office has continued over 23 years later to search through debris to identify human remains of those murdered on September 11, 2001.
Instead of a pause or commercial break, Pelley took one last pot shot:
It seems hard to remember when America was united. But recently, we were reminded of such a time — the morning of September 11th, 2001 — when all Americans pledged to persevere, together. Nearly a quarter century ago, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner made a promise to identify the remains of the lost souls of 9/11. Not many are aware, but that work has never stopped.
If you’d ask Pelley or others in the journalism profession about why we’re not as united as we were then, chances are a healthy sample would blame some combination of conservative media, Fox News, social media, and the internet itself.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from November 17, click “expand.”
CBS’s 60 Minutes
November 17, 2024
7:40 p.m. EasternSCOTT PELLEY: This past week, Republicans won the House majority and President-elect Trump made nominations to his Cabinet. Some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump. The nominees are: Senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state. Pete Hegseth to lead the 3 million people of the Department of Defense. He’s a combat veteran most recently, a morning show host on Fox News with no government experience. Former Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general in charge of law enforcement. Gaetz has been investigated by Republicans for alleged drug use and sex with a minor. Gaetz denies those allegations. Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for director of National Intelligence. She sought a pardon for Edward Snowden who leaked U.S. secrets and now lives in Russia. And Robert Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services, a skeptic of vaccinations. It’s up to the new Republican majority in the Senate to decide whether these nominees are equipped to represent the American people. It seems hard to remember when America was united. But recently, we were reminded of such a time — the morning of September 11th, 2001 — when all Americans pledged to persevere, together. Nearly a quarter century ago, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner made a promise to identify the remains of the lost souls of 9/11. Not many are aware, but that work has never stopped.
