ABC’s Good Morning America not only continued to try and make fetch happen with scaring and shaming voters into voting for Vice President Harris instead of former President Trump with more fawning over former Trump chief of staff John Kelly’s tall tales about his former boss being a fascist and Adolf Hitler enthusiast, but also tried to dial up the gush for Harris “calling on her biggest celebrity supporters” and “promising to put Americans first.”
As usual, co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos set the tone with a mouthful of an opening (after a similar tease):
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on ‘Good Morning America’: “Kamala Harris campaigned last night in Georgia with Barack Obama. Donald Trump on the trail in Arizona, calling America the world’s garbage can when speaking about immigration. He promised to fire the special counsels… pic.twitter.com/SVCQzSBv1c
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 25, 2024
Mary Bruce — chief White House correspondent, chief Biden administration apple polisher, and Disney’s in-house North Korean news lady for the Harris campaign — again started with nothing but fluff:
ABC’s @MaryKBruce on @GMA: “Kamala Harris is calling on her biggest celebrity supporters from The Boss to Tyler Perry to Beyonce…She is trying to pull out all the stops and try and push voters to the polls. Overnight in Georgia…Obama ripping into Donald Trump, painting him as… pic.twitter.com/k14CBsOYBD
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 25, 2024
In her report, she even touted Harris as being…America First?
Read it for yourself: “Riling up the crowd of over 20,000, Harris promising to put Americans first, not herself…The Vice President reminding voters that the country’s future is now in their hands.”
Virulent Trump hater Rachel Scott had her own report on the man she treats like an enemy:
ABC’s @RachelVScott, idolatrous Trump hater: “Donald Trump painting a picture of what a second term would look like, vowing to fire the special counsel investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and promising mass deportations as he dials up his rhetoric on… pic.twitter.com/0tCkUV0H5P
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 25, 2024
After complaining about Trump’s promise to fire Special Counsel Jack Smith, Scott went back to the well of Kelly’s partisan posturing, suggesting he’s telling the truth and thus he shouldn’t be questioned because he “served his country for decades” and is a Gold Star father.
Scott also gave oxygen to the wholly partisan behavior of former model Stacey Williams with decades-old claims insisting Trump sexually assaulted her:
ABC’s Rachel Scott predictably gave attention to Stacey Williams, acting like what she’s saying is totally legitimate:
“And, overnight, another headline. Former model Stacey Williams telling CNN about alleged sexual misconduct by Donald Trump in the early ‘90s. Williams telling… pic.twitter.com/vVuHfJEF27
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 25, 2024
Stephanopoulos even tried to have political director Rick Klein make the argument that Kelly’s (years-old) claims about Trump being a fascist will move the needle for voters toward Harris:
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “Generals John Kelly and Mark Milley called Donald Trump a fascist. Kamala Harris agrees. And we have any polling on that?”
ABC political director Rick Klein: “Yeah, I mean, this has been such a negative campaign that, actually, both candidates are… pic.twitter.com/oFbtDI4yCj
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 25, 2024
NBC’s Today joined ABC in peddling the Williams hit job as worth giving attention to.
Trump campaign correspondent Garrett Haake tacked it onto the end of his campaign breakdown by, like Scott, tying it alongside Kelly’s conversations with the media (click “expand”):
HAAKE: Earlier in Georgia, Vice President Harris turning to star power at a rally, led by Bruce Springsteen and former Barack Obama joining the vice president for the first time on the trail.
[OBAMA SOUNDBITE]
HAAKE: And the Vice President delivering one of her new closing messages.
[HARRIS SOUNDBITE]
HAAKE: — while her campaign is also seizing on comments by former trump chief of staff John Kelly to The New York Times in a new ad.
KELLY: He certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist.
HAAKE: Trump on the trail yesterday firing back at Kelly —
TRUMP: He was a bully who made up stories.
HAAKE: — while his campaign also pushes back on new accusations of sexual misconduct. Stacey Williams, a former model, says that, in 1993, Trump groped her in Trump Tower while talking to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Williams, a registered Democrat who attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention, telling the story on a zoom call this week labeled Survivors for Kamala. NBC News spoke to seven people who said Williams previously told them about the alleged encounter with Trump, most of whom requested anonymity. The first said they were told in 2006. The most recent, in 2022. The Trump campaign saying the accusations are “unequivocally false.”
Over on CBS Mornings, they chose to spend more time promoting Harris. Co-host Tony Dokoupil hyped Harris’s “star-studded rally in Atlanta yesterday with the likes of Spike Lee, Bruce Springsteen, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tyler Perry” as well as “maybe the biggest political celebrity in America, former President Barack Obama.”
Congressional correspondent Nikole Killion touted the crowd as “one of her largest crowds yet” to witness “[h]istory on stage” with “[t]he nation’s first Black president and the first female vice president of color, joining forces” and “played off each other” to attack Trump.
“Bringing out the big guns for the final push,” gushed co-host Nate Burleson.
Political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns had the task of bashing the Trump campaign and, while she did that by focusing on Kelly and Trump’s plea to fire Smith, she made sure to double down on her pet issue of abortion (which was a large portion of her Thursday night spot on the CBS Evening News (click “expand”):
PRO-ABORTION ACTIVIST: We’re making sure that you know that abortion is on the ballot this year.
HUEY-BURNS: Polling also shows a majority of voters here support an Arizona ballot measure to establish abortion rights in the state’s Constitution, and these canvassers say they hope the issue drives voter turnout.
PRO-ABORTION ACTIVIST: I have a daughter. I can’t even imagine her having less rights than I had when I was at her age.
HUEY-BURNS: And CBS News polling shows support for that abortion measure here in Arizona doesn’t necessarily translate to support for Harris. One in five voters say they plan to back the measure while also backing Donald Trump[.]
To see the relevant transcripts from October 25, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).