With the streets of the nation’s capital being turned into “fortresses of plywood” (as coined by CBS Homeland Security correspondent Jeff Pegues on Monday), the broadcast networks refused to say just who they were protecting their businesses from. CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News spoke in vague terms of “violence” and “unrest.” While ABC’s World News Tonight ignored the boarded-up businesses, they scoffed at the White House’s installment of a new protective barrier.
Any honest observer understood just who those businesses feared. “Across the country, major cities are preparing for potential violence after the election, from New York to Philadelphia to Los Angeles,” reported NBC correspondent Gabe Gutierrez. Now, those cities were definitely not known for their enclaves of rioting Trump supporters (those don’t exist).
The businesses knew there was a chance that the radicals of Antifa and Black Lives Matter would take to the streets and raze their livelihoods to the ground following the election.
“Even the White House plans to install a non-scalable fence. In Kenosha, downtown businesses have been boarded up for months,” Gutierrez added, failing to note why Kenosha had been stuck like that for so long.
But at least that was more than what ABC chief White House correspondent Jon Karl told his viewers. He huffed about the White House’s construction of a new steel fence. “President Trump has invited 400 guests to the White House tomorrow to watch election returns. Today, barriers are going up, walling off the complex to the world outside,” he sneered.
Meanwhile, on CBS, anchor Norah O’Donnell continued to keep the threat to the public as obfuscated as she could. “Today, new steel fencing went up around the White House complex. Security is being tightened all over the country over concerns of unrest after the election,” she said.
Nora, Trump supporters were not going to attack the White House or burn down stores and homes. That’s the extremist left.
At the top of his report, Pegues noted that “in New York City, the nation’s largest police department is putting businesses on alert as stores there and around the country board up as a precaution.” Again, not a place that saw Trump supporters riot and loot.
He went on to speak with an unnamed Homeland Security official who warned of the “half-a-dozen protests” that could swarm D.C. (click “expand”):
PEGUES: And starting tomorrow, officials will be monitoring events across the country from a command center at FBI headquarters. Washington D.C. is likely to get extra attention.
Are you anticipating violence?
City Homeland Security officials are bracing for half-a-dozen protests over the next several days.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIAL: We certainly want to make sure those protests are peaceful and violence or any types of violence will not be tolerated here in the district.
“We are seeing a lot of these,” he told O’Donnell as he toured a D.C. street, “fortresses of plywood here around D.C. as a precaution. Because we’re being told there are no specific threats of violence. Even so, businesses around here aren't taking any chances after a summer of unrest.”
What groups were behind the “summer of unrest,” Jeff? Say their name.
This cover-up of leftist-extremist violence was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from WeatherTech on ABC, Ancestry on CBS, and Facebook on NBC. They’re contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding. CBS Evening News has also asked viewers to “text Norah” at this number: (202) 217-1107.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
November 2, 2020
6:36:55 p.m. Eastern(…)
JON KARL: President Trump has invited 400 guests to the White House tomorrow to watch election returns. Today, barriers are going up, walling off the complex to the world outside.
(…)
CBS Evening News
November 2, 2020
6:43:14 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: Today, new steel fencing went up around the White House complex. Security is being tightened all over the country over concerns of unrest after the election. We get more now from CBS’s Jeff Pegues.
[Cuts to video]
JEFF PEGUES: Today, in New York City, the nation’s largest police department is putting businesses on alert as stores there and around the country board up as a precaution.
(…)
6:44:15 p.m. Eastern
PEGUES: And starting tomorrow, officials will be monitoring events across the country from a command center at FBI headquarters. Washington D.C. is likely to get extra attention.
Are you anticipating violence?
City Homeland Security officials are bracing for half-a-dozen protests over the next several days.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIAL: We certainly want to make sure those protests are peaceful and violence or any types of violence will not be tolerated here in the district.
[Cuts back to live]
PEGUES: We are seeing a lot of theses, fortresses of plywood here around D.C. as a precaution. Because we’re being told there are no specific threats of violence. Even so, businesses around here aren't taking any chances after a summer of unrest.
NBC Nightly News
November 2, 2020
7:01:25 p.m. Eastern [Opening tease]LESTER HOLT: Tensions running high, businesses boarded up ahead of potential unrest. How to deal with your election anxiety.
(…)
7:13:53 p.m. Eastern
GABE GUTIERREZ: Across the country, major cities are preparing for potential violence after the election, from New York to Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Even the White House plans to install a non-scalable fence. In Kenosha, downtown businesses have been boarded up for months.
(…)
