As NewsBusters has documented, ABC, CBS, and NBC used their Monday morning and evening news shows to run crisis communications for the Biden administration and U.S. Senate to promote their border deal. By Tuesday morning, it turned towards shaming Republicans as they whined “the vibes in Washington are not good” as Donald Trump “told” Republicans to ensure they “tanked” the deal.
Once again, ABC’s Good Morning America led the way in its partisanship, starting with co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos again bashing the impending impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“To Washington now where House Republicans and former President Trump have tanked the Senate’s bipartisan border security bill as they set a vote to impeach Homeland Secretary Mayorkas despite no evidence of impeachable offenses,” Stephanopoulos proclaimed.
Senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott followed suit as a liberal tool:
And it’s been nearly 150 years since a cabinet secretary was impeached by the House, but never over a policy dispute. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was deeply involved in those Senate negotiations. That border deal? Now on thin ice.
Scott continued to use the liberal line of touting the amount of money thrown at a problem as if it’s indicative of success and promoted the liberal line that Republicans only oppose the deal because Trump told them to (click “expand”):
SCOTT: The bill includes $20 billion for border security, forcing the border to shut down when migrant apprehensions reach 5,000 a day, and making it more difficult to apply for asylum in the U.S. The package also adds $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel. Months ago Mike Johnson called for a compromise like this one.
JOHNSON [on 11/02/23] We want to pair border security with Ukraine because I think we can get bipartisan agreement on both of those matters.
SCOTT: But that was before Donald Trump weighed in.
DONALD TRUMP [on Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight, 02/05/24]: It’s a trap for Republicans. That would be so stupid, so foolish to sign a bill like this.
SCOTT [TO LANKFORD]: Is the pressure from Trump misguided? Is it helpful?
SENATOR JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): He’s trying to get elected to be the President of the United States. I have got something I’m trying to accomplish. It’s securing the nation and our border right now.
SCOTT: Senate negotiators touting that the bill is even supported by the conservative-leaning border patrol union, which calls it a step in the right direction.
SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Many Senate Republicans are going to oppose this because it’s too effective, because Donald Trump is telling them no, keep chaos at the border. Don’t solve the problem because that’s good politics for us. Well, that’s really bad for the country.
Shifting over to the peacock network, NBC’s Today followed the same pattern as Monday with co-host Hoda Kotb using an opening tease to poo-poo the GOP: “Border battle. Senate Republicans now threatening to block the bill they negotiated to crack down on illegal crossings. The Speaker of the House already saying it has zero chance of passing.”
Later on, Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles had the segment and sounded like a reality TV and or college fraternity bro when he bemoaned that “the vibes” in D.C. “are not good” because of the GOP:
And the border crisis is extending to cities across the country, but here in Washington, a solution remains elusive. And, much like the last four decades, Republicans and Democrats are blaming each other for the growing immigration problem. The vibes in Washington are not good. Republicans and Democrats both raising serious concerns about the $118 billion national security package to the point where the bill’s future is in serious doubt.
Without diving into why Republicans might oppose this on policy grounds, Nobles accepted the left’s excuse: “But the Democrat who led the negotiations, Senator Chris Murphy, says the concerns are not related to the policy, but instead the politics of an election year.”
Nobles explained that, in turn, “there will be no path towards changing the situation” and included sound of the Democrat Texas sheriff saying the need to act now isn’t “a red and blue issue.”
Nobles also touched on the Mayorkas impeachment, stating that’s the GOP’s priority along with declaring “the bill dead on arrival” as, on the former, they “can only afford to lose two votes after Ken Buck of Colorado said he plans to vote no” on what “Mayorkas has called...a political stunt.”
CBS Mornings came out swinging with this from co-host Tony Dokoupil:
[T]he Senate immigration compromise — well, it’s gotten a big endorsement by a group that knows the issue well, the generally right-leaning union for border patrol agents, the people actually down there. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to matter because Republicans are being told to walk away from the deal by former President Donald Trump. Nikole Killion reports now on the politics that are killing this deal.
Shortly after acknowledging “[t]he bipartisan border compromise is now on life support,” congressional correspondent Nikole Killion pointed to “Trump...urging Republicans lawmakers to kill the package”, adding (click “expand”):
KILLION: The measure would be one of the strictest border policies in decades, requiring the border to be temporarily shut down when migrant crossings hit 5,000 a day, boosting the number of border patrol agents, and speeding up the asylum process in an effort to end the controversial catch-and-release policy.
SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON [on FNC’s The Ingraham Angle, 02/05/24]: It would not resolve any of the problems.
KILLION: House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, is urging fellow Republicans to reject the deal, knowing immigration policy is a political vulnerability for President Biden.
(....)
KILLION: Meantime, the House is preparing to move forward with an impeachment vote today against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who helped negotiate this border deal. If passed, he would become only the second cabinet official in U.S. history to face impeachment, Tony.
DOKOUPIL: Politics there at play as well.
To see the relevant transcripts from February 6, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
