For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.
While it likely comes as no surprise to most that the majority of American media leans left — and sometimes dramatically so — some eyebrows might just raise a bit at the lengths to which some went on Sunday to shade their election coverage with just hours to go in the 2024 race.
On ABC News’ “This Week,” former Democratic adviser George Stephanopoulos ratcheted up the tension by invoking the Civil War to describe the tenor surrounding the 2024 presidential election.
“It is almost over. What comes next is anyone’s guess. What we do know is this — no election since the Civil War has posed such a test of our constitutional system,” Stephanopoulos began, going on to say that the true test would be whether or not there would be a “peaceful transfer of power” regardless of the outcome.
And in a vacuum, Stephanopoulos’ words might be innocuous. But in American political discourse circa 2024 — where the prevailing narrative mandates that former President Donald Trump is the only person who might potentially respond poorly to losing — the ABC host was clearly asking whether Harris would be allowed to take office without threat of violence.
“It is almost over. What comes next is anyone’s guess. What we do know is this — no election since the Civil War has posed such a test of our constitutional system.”@GStephanopoulos has the latest news from the final days of this election cycle. https://t.co/6sHjFmUNzX pic.twitter.com/PHcbiU5mIP
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 3, 2024
Jonathan Karl joined the pile-on at ABC, using a repeatedly misquoted comment to suggest that Trump was already leaning in to violent rhetoric ahead of Tuesday’s election. Karl referenced Trump’s admittedly ham-handed suggestion that former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) might feel differently if she had to fight in the wars she voted to send others to — a comment that has been widely misrepresented as a threat on Cheney’s life — he said Trump’s closing campaign message “has been very dark, has been very divisive.”
Much of former Pres. Trump’s messaging in the final days of the 2024 campaign “has been very dark, has been very divisive,” @JonKarl says, referencing Trump’s violent rhetoric about former Rep. Liz Cheney.
“This is not a message that’s about the economy.” https://t.co/9EQuDkDrAX pic.twitter.com/MnhyEOwwwi
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 3, 2024
Former Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) helped ABC with some of the heavy lifting and claimed that the majority of undecided voters were only undecided because they already had “an opinion of Donald Trump” — and by his calculations, that opinion was not good.
“If they’re undecided today, that means they’re not voting for him. So what he wants to do is create this dark kind of picture to make them stay home,” Christie said. The former New Jersey governor made no mention of the “dark picture” created by a viral anti-Trump ad that showed a dystopian future America under the multi-generational rule of current vice presidential candidate JD Vance (R-OH).
Undecided voters have “an opinion of Donald Trump,” @GovChristie says.
“If they’re undecided today, that means they’re not voting for him. So what he wants to do is to create this dark kind of picture to make them stay home.” https://t.co/TMARsAzp42 pic.twitter.com/9FYkVIW4yz
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 3, 2024
ABC’s Matt Gutman tipped his hand while reporting in on preparations for Election Day in the hotly contested battleground state of Pennsylvania — which is widely considered to be a “must win” state for both campaigns.
“They’ve got to finish tabulating all the results as early as they can,” he said, “before that expected avalanche of litigation from the Trump campaign.”
Gutman’s insinuation that only Trump would take legal action — in Pennsylvania or anywhere else — is laughable, as both campaigns have legal teams in place in all of the swing states and they are ready to move the second they see something out of place. But it does follow the accepted media narrative that only Trump would refuse to accept the results as they come.
Election officials are in a “race against the clock” in battleground Pennsylvania, @mattgutmanABC reports.
“They’ve got to finish tabulating all the results as early as they can … before that expected avalanche of litigation from the Trump campaign.” https://t.co/z23wLKQlP5 pic.twitter.com/2NvJ8VZbwc
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 3, 2024
On CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” the Russia narrative resurfaced. Despite analyses that concluded Russian interference in the 2016 election — though attempted — did not change a single vote, Democrats and media have continued to run with the story as if it did just that.
The new twist, according to cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs, is that the Russians have transitioned to “laundering” the desired content through “other platforms, such as Telegram and X” in order to evade detection.
How has Russia’s disinformation campaign evolved from the 2016 and 2020 elections?
CBS News cybersecurity expert & analyst Chris Krebs (@C_C_Krebs) says Russians are now “laundering” content through other platforms, such as Telegram and X, so that U.S. citizens pick up the false… pic.twitter.com/PP3pWYwcQJ
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 3, 2024
And it’s not just Russia, CBS warned, giving a full report on Iran’s efforts to shake the American people’s trust in the safety and security of elections.
Iran’s influence operations targeting the 2024 election have been focused on denigrating former President Donald Trump and undermining perceptions of the election’s integrity, says CBS News contributor and former DHS official Sam Vinograd (@sam_vinograd).
She says Iran has shown… pic.twitter.com/rAtiZLoAYS
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 3, 2024
NBC News, just hours after allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to turn its flagship sketch-comedy show “Saturday Night Live” into a de facto ad — a move that could put the network on the wrong side of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — brought in Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) to gaslight the audience.
Warnock argued that despite numerous polls across the country, Donald Trump was not really gaining ground with black voters — particularly black men.
“Black men are not going to show up in droves and waves voting for Donald Trump,” he claimed. “They know who he is.”
But polling — and Kamala Harris’ campaign’s recent actions — paint a different picture, as former President Barack Obama was dispatched to effectively shame black men into supporting Harris.
WATCH: Polls shows Kamala Harris trailing where Biden was with Black voters in 2020. Sen. Warnock says he trusts what he’s seeing on the ground.@ReverendWarnock: “Black men are not going to show up in droves and waves voting for Donald Trump. … They know who he is.” pic.twitter.com/rDPcF3eVIC
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 3, 2024
Warnock wrapped up his appearance by misquoting Trump in order to tee up an insult, saying that Trump’s promise to protect women “whether they like it or not” sounded “ominous coming from the mouth of a convicted sexual predator … We don’t need a predator, we need a president.”
Trump did say that he would protect women “whether they like it or not,” but he made the comment in reference to the influx of violent crime — often targeting women — perpetrated by illegal immigrants who have flooded across the southern border under the leadership of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
WATCH: Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) says Donald Trump’s remarks about protecting women “whether they like it or not” are “ominous coming from the mouth of a convicted sexual predator.”@ReverendWarnock: “We don’t need a predator, we need a president.” pic.twitter.com/9UNMi4RYHr
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 3, 2024
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Dana Bash tried her best to toe the Democratic Party line, but her guest — Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) — quickly made it clear that he was not having any part of that.
Bash began by suggesting that any warnings about voter fraud taking place were intentionally being pushed to undermine the election that was already in progress. “You think it’s okay to spread false rumors about fraud and undermine the integrity of the election, regardless of what happens?”
“The liberal media has done a better job of spreading misinformation than any candidate I have seen so far,” Scott shot back.
“Oh, come on, Senator,” Bash protested.
BASH: “You think it’s OK to spread false rumors about fraud and undermine the integrity of the election, regardless of what happens?”
SCOTT: “The liberal media has done a better job of spreading misinformation than any candidate I have seen so far.”
BASH: “Oh come on, Senator.” pic.twitter.com/6DRoBbp1iU— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) November 3, 2024
Bash also attempted to pivot, raising the possibility that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the former Democratic presidential candidate who aligned with Trump after being shut out by his own party — could push a policy that would remove fluoride from American water systems.
“I can’t believe we’re having a conversation about fluoride when all the voters I’ve talked to over five battleground states —” Scott began.
“I mean, take it up with RFK Jr.,” Bash suggested, giving no explanation as to why she hadn’t simply asked Kennedy herself.
SCOTT: “I can’t believe that we’re having a conversation about fluoride when all the voters I’ve talked to over five battleground states–”
BASH: “I mean, take it up with RFK Jr.”@DanaBashCNN pushes @votetimscott on RFK Jr saying Trump will remove fluoride from drinking water. pic.twitter.com/eoLwsLBFP5— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) November 3, 2024
