All three networks opened their Friday morning broadcasts eagerly promoting the idea that President Trump becomes seriously ill from the coronavirus. Immediately after he announced his positive test overnight, CNN broke in with hours of ghoulish gossip expecting the worst ,and this morning the more subdued networks floated the same possibility, even discussing Nancy Pelosi becoming the acting president if the 25th Amendment is invoked.
NBC’s Today show was the worst offender, spending several segments excited by the idea of Trump becoming incapacitated and replaced.
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Co-anchor Savannah Guthrie asked national security analyst Jeremy Bash what would happen “when you have a situation where the president may be seriously ill?” Bash hyped how Trump could become so sick he needed to be hospitalized:
First is what happened to the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson where he got so sick he had to go into intensive care. If the president is incapacitated, Mike Pence, the VP would become the acting president. That’s only happened three times in recent history, Savannah.
He noted that before worrying that our enemies might take advantage of the situation.
During the 3rd Hour Today show, the hosts spend a substantial amount of time strategizing what would happen in the worst case scenario with presidential historian Michael Beschloss. You can read the full exchange in the transcript at the bottom but here are some of the most awful exchanges and questions:
MELVIN: …[I]n the past when the president has become seriously ill, what’s happened? How many times has something like this happened in our nation’s history?
PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Well, the last time a president’s life was in this much jeopardy was in 1981 when Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington, D.C. outside the Washington Hilton. And he benefited from the fact that there was something called an amendment to the Constitution which allows a president to temporarily pass power, if necessary.
…
So the good part of this is if there is any silver lining to this, Craig, is we’ve got a constitutional system. If something, God forbid, happened to a president and/or a vice president or then a Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore in the Senate, then you go through the cabinet in order basically at seniority so there is a line of succession, the republic would be secure.
DYLAN DREYER: So breaking down that process, if the worst case scenario does come true and the president might be able to temporarily do his job, what is the exact next step that happens?
During this discussion, Beschloss repeatedly hyped how Trump was very sick, even though the White House physician said he was “well” and didn’t disclose if he was experiencing any symptoms. Regardless, Beschloss stated, “We’re about to see a time in history we have never seen before, especially because we are one month before a president running for re-election. We have never seen a president this sick so soon this close to an election.”
Chuck Todd and Al Roker also floated the idea of Nancy Pelosi becoming acting president:
TODD: This White House in particular needs to go above and beyond in its transparency about this….The line of succession to the presidency, once you get after the vice president, is up on Capitol Hill with the speaker Nancy Pelosi…
ROKER: [E]ven though we know Vice President said this morning he tested positive [sic] but how far down the line–How far down the line is the line of succession do they get planned for something like this?
While discussing the 25th Amendment possibility with correspondent Terry Moran on ABC’s Good Morning America, co-anchor Cecilia Vega wondered, “What would happen if the vice president were to become unable to fill in for President Trump?”
Moran noted how Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was “next in line of succession,” and “would resign and become acting president.”
Over on CBS, correspondent Major Garrett also suggested Trump becoming “seriously ill” and needing to invoke the 25th Amendment to co-anchor Tony Dokoupil:
DOKOUPIL: …[H]ow likely is it that he’ll be able to carry out his duties in quarantine?
MAJOR GARRETT: Fully likely as long as he doesn’t get seriously ill. If he gets seriously ill then the 25th Amendment comes into play. Ratified in 1967, it’s a temporary transfer of power to the vice president if for any reason medical or otherwise you’re incapacitated. We’re not there yet, we’re not close to that but It’s a question on the minds of every citizen. And the White House has to explain daily how the president’s doing and how close, if at all close, it’s getting to that point.
Gayle King ended this segment touting the “ramifications” from the President’s positive test. Dokoupil later asked John Dickerson about using the amendment again “if the president takes a bad turn.”
NBC rooting for Trump to be incapacitated or worse was paid for advertisers Giant and State Farm, whom you can contact by following the links above.
LifeNews Note: Kristine Marsh is Staff Writer for MRC Culture at the Media Research Center where this originally appeared.
