On Saturday, Senator Ted Cruz swept the state of Wyoming and captured all 14 of the state’s GOP delegates. But if you were watching the Sunday morning news briefs you probably would have missed it. What you would have learned is that Donald Trump is still calling the Republican election system rigged, Trump has a new nick name for Hillary Clinton, and John Kasich eats pickles in a weird way.
Both ABC and NBC barely covered to Cruz’s victory in Wyoming. NBC dedicated only one sentence to the issue before moving on to talk about Trump’s chances of getting 1237 delegates before the GOP convention. NBC’s Sunday Today host Willie Geist gave the news just a small blurb while introducing NBC reporter Hallie Jackson to talk about Trump:
“Also on Saturday, Ted Cruz picked up 14 delegates in the state of Wyoming. That's where we find Hallie Jackson covering the Republican field in Casper. Hallie, good morning to you. Donald Trump has been all week on this rant against the RNC, against the party saying it is a rigged system. Last night issuing that warning that it is going to get crazy in July at the convention. What is his strategy here?”
The reporting by ABC was a little better but not by much. They at least said Cruz was beating Trump in the delegate game, but it was bookended by Trump’s potential win in New York and Trump’s pivot to the general. “You know, Donald Trump looks likely to win here in New York on Tuesday. But, he's been outmaneuvered by Ted Cruz in the delegate game now for the second weekend in a row. He's still leading the GOP race,” stated ABC reporter Devin Dwyer.
Both news outlets reported that Trump was feeling confident about winning the GOP nomination. And they reported that Trump’s coining of the name “Crooked Hillary” as sign of him pivoting to the general election.
ABC spent a considerable amount of time on the least newsworthy of items: the way Kasich eats a pickle. “Underdog John Kasich. Who hopes his pickle-eating skills, at a New York kosher style deli, will help win him critical votes,” Dwyer said. “I'm just wondering if John Kasich is still eating,” remarked Good Morning America co-host Paula Faris.
Along with neither network giving the victory much time they also failed to have a single sound bite from Cruz on his win, or any speech for that matter. Playing up Trump’s accusations of election rigging is nothing new for the networks. According to the Media Research Center’s analysis, Trump’s delegate complains have received 24 times as much coverage as the death threats to the GOP delegates.
Transcripts below:
ABC
Good Morning America
April 17, 2016
8:09:23 AM EasternDAN HARRIS: Politics now. And this morning, Donald Trump dealing with a fresh setback. Ted Cruz bringing home most of the delegates in the state of Wyoming. Trump clearly hoping now to gain some ground in the big primary here in New York, which is now just two days away. And ABC’s Devin Dwyer is on the story from Syracuse, New York. Hey, Devin, good morning.
DEVIN DWYER: Hey, good morning, Dan. You know, Donald Trump looks likely to win here in New York on Tuesday. But, he's been outmaneuvered by Ted Cruz in the delegate game now for the second weekend in a row. He's still leading the GOP race. But this morning, Donald Trump's tasting the sting of defeat. Ted Cruz picked up all 14 critical delegates in Wyoming on Saturday. Trump picked up zero.
DONALD TRUMP: After this weekend, when he gets wiped out in New York, which he will -- he gets wiped out. [Cheers and applause] He no longer has a road to the nomination.
DWYER: Trump so confident, he's increasingly targeting Hillary Clinton. Now giving her a new nick name.
TRUMP: I'm not controlled by the special interests, by the lobbyists. And they control -- they control crooked Hillary and they control lyin' Ted Cruz, right? [Jeers an boos]
DWYER: But Cruz is fighting back. This morning, accusing trump of throwing a tantrum, rolling out a new line of onesies and baby bibs mocking Trump for whining about losing delegates. Some Trump supporters we met said they're frustrated.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: And Ted Cruz has had a better ground game. And he knows what he's doing with the rules. And Trump should have did his homework on that.
DWYER: One candidate who has done his homework on New York.
JOHN KASICH: Best pickles in the world.
DWYER: Underdog John Kasich. Who hopes his pickle-eating skills, at a New York kosher style deli, will help win him critical votes.
KASICH: When you eat a pickle, you got to put your finger up in the air like this, am I right?
DWYER: And while Cruz is celebrating his victories the past few weeks. Trump is poised to win more delegates on New York than Cruz won in Colorado and Wyoming combined. Paula.
PAULA FARIS: I'm just wondering if John Kasich is still eating, Devin Dwyer. [Laughter]
DWYER: No pinkie Paula. No pinkie.
...
NBC
Sunday Today
April 17, 2016
8:04:33 AMWILLIE GEIST: Let's swing now to the Republican side of things, Donald Trump dominating the polls in his home state of New York while railing against the Republican Party over what he calls a rigged system of delegate allocation. Trump warning the Republican national committee last night at a rally in Syracuse.
DONALD TRUMP: But the system is a bad, bad system. And they got to do something about it. The Republican National Committee, they better get going because I'll tell you what, you're going to have a rough July at that convention.
GEIST: Also on Saturday, Ted Cruz picked up 14 delegates in the state of Wyoming. That's where we find Hallie Jackson covering the Republican field in Casper. Hallie, good morning to you. Donald Trump has been all week on this rant against the RNC, against the party saying it is a rigged system. Last night issuing that warning that it is going to get crazy in July at the convention. What is his strategy here?
HALLIE JACKSON: He, essentially, Willie, his campaign would be foolish to not be looking ahead to a contested convention at this point. Trump wants to lock up the nomination on that first ballot by getting 1237 delegates, right. But he's struggling when it comes to keeping up in the delegate race with Ted Cruz.
So his best shot is to win out right. That's why you're seeing him take aim at the RNC, take aim at the process. The risk for him there, though, is the very people he's hitting when he slams the Republican National Committee are the very folks who will be at a convention in Cleveland. For trump, the key to winning out now as he's been doing is pivoting to try to look more presidential.
That’s why you're seeing him head to the New York military academy later today, trying to boost his credentials as a potential commander in chief. He has a short, tighter stump speech and he's looking to a general election by hit Hillary Clinton even harder, Willie. He’s got a new nickname for her now, crooked Hillary.
GEIST: Well it was only a matter of time, I guess, before he gave her one of his nick names.
