The broadcast and cable news shows raced to proclaim the stall in the passage of an Obamacare replacement as a “disastrous” failure for the Trump administration, with reactions ranging from gloating exaggerations to blatant falsehoods.
“The President who fancies himself a master of the art of the deal is still an apprentice when it comes to politics,” CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley chortled on March 24.
“This is an embarrassing defeat for President Trump and for Paul Ryan,” NBC Senior Politics Analyst Mark Halperin on the March 24 Nightly News.
Chuck Todd began his March 24 edition of MTP Daily by saying, “Welcome to what was arguably been [sic] a disastrous Friday afternoon to close out a very bad week, for Trump’s White House and the Republican Party.”
On CNN’s New Day on March 27, co-hosts Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota both referred introduced segments by referencing Trump’s “stinging defeat” on health care.
Not to be outdone, on March 24 on CNN’s State of the Union, Senior Political Analyst David Gergen called Trump’s first 100 days in office, “maybe the worst 100 days we’ve ever seen in a president.” Later that same day, appearing on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Gergen revealed that CNN Washington Bureau Chief and Senior Vice President Sam Feist had sent him a note reminding him of William Henry Harrison – the president who died 31 days into his term after catching pneumonia.
During that same broadcast, Don Lemon described the failure of the health care bill as “hugely embarrassing.”
On ABC’s Good Morning America on March 27, Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl wondered if the Trump administration could ever accomplish anything after this. “This is a devastating blow. And not only because he fails to keep a key campaign promise; this puts in question the rest of the Trump agenda. Can he get anything else passed if he couldn’t do this? Can he even keep thing government running, which runs out of funding on April 28?”
