The journalists at CBS This Morning on Inauguration Day lectured viewers that some Americans “fear” Donald Trump and are very “nervous” about his presidency. Face the Nation host John Dickerson insisted that Trump needs to “to offer something to the other side, to recognize the fear.”
He allowed that “there are some for whom this day is a great joy.” Dickerson added, “But there are a lot of people who are nervous. He's got the one camp. Can he speak to the other camp? That's one of the big tests for today.”
Dickerson worried, “He's promising a lot of change, a lot of disruption in America.” Just to be clear, that while some Americans are happy on Inauguration Day, “For others, it's nervous-making and a president has to explain.”
Later, Gayle King hectored Representative Kevin McCarthy, reminding, “Donald Trump will enter the White House with one of the lowest approval ratings in history. What does that mean, congressman, for the Republican agenda? Does it matter?”
In 2009, CBS hosts were just plain excited:
A new day is dawning here in the nation’s capital on the eve of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States... Does it get any better, or more beautiful, or more spectacular, than this?”
— Co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez opening CBS’s Early Show, January 19, 2009.
For more, see the worst of 2009 Inauguration Day bias.
A transcript is below:
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CBS This Morning
1/20/17
7:14CHARLIE ROSE: What do we know about the speech? We know, for example, it's going to be aspirational. We know “America first” will certainly find its way into this speech.
JOHN DICKERSON: Right. I think what I'm wondering is which of the two Donald Trumps will show up? Will it be the Donald Trump who is a negotiator, who loves a big, strong gambit, really shocks everybody? And that's the way he loves to operate. The other is the Donald Trump we saw on election night after he won, kind of sounding the notes of unity. But it's one thing to say we all need to join together in unity. It's another to show it.
ROSE: Right.
DICKERSON: To offer something to the other side, to recognize the fear. There are some for whom today is a great joy.
GAYLE KING: Yes.
DICKERSON: After eight years of feeling left out of their country, they have somebody who is their tribune who is now president. But there are a lot of people who are nervous. He's got the one camp. Can he speak to the other camp? That's one of the big tests for today.
KING: I see a lot of jolly people today in the hotel walking around the streets in tuxedos and long gowns. They are very psyched. But you're right. There's another side. His team keeps saying he's going to be the latter. He’s going to be a unifier today. He’s going to reach out. We will see.
DICKERSON: Unify. Well, you can say we should get together and then move on. That doesn’t do it. A president — and the reason this is important not just for today, but This is what a president does. He's promising a lot of change, a lot of disruption in America.
KING: Setting the tone.
DICKERSON: Well, there are some people for whom that’s a wonderful thing. For others, it's nervous-making and a president has to explain. He has to comfort, he has to walk them through what he's doing. If he can do it today, there's a little signal he might be able to do it later.
NORAH O’DONNELL: As it's described in the Washington Post today, Donald Trump built a skyscraper of campaign promises. How quickly will they act?
JOHN DICKERSON: You know, he'll do a few executive orders today that are kind of bookkeeping matters, and then we don't know what's going to happen Monday but good things are going to happen Monday.
O’DONNELL: I'm told he has something For every day for the first two weeks, that they're just going to come out of the gate roaring and every day there's some new policy change.
DICKERSON: Right. Some of them may be — Mexico City which has to do with abortion which some might not know about. Others, we're renegotiating NAFTA. You know, that’s big.
CHARLIE ROSE: Do we know that he and Paul Ryan and the Republicans in Congress are at one on most issues?
DICKERSON: Well, they're one on the big, broad things. But if you look at ObamaCare, the devil is absolutely in the details. And there is going to be a lot of conflict because Donald Trump has promised a lot, cheaper, faster, immediately, repeal and replace.
ROSE: And big budget items like infrastructure.
DICKERSON: They're wanting to get rid of regulations and lower taxes. So, yes. On most things, on the big stuff they're really in sync. It's the details.
