Sunday Shows Follow Biden’s Lead at WHCD

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

This week’s spin began with Saturday evening’s White House Correspondence Dinner, where President Joe Biden issued the marching orders — namely, that it should be open season on former President Donald Trump — that all but one of the network Sunday shows dutifully carried out just hours later.

During his brief remarks, Biden first framed the 2024 presidential race as a choice that would determine whether democracy was “still the sacred cause of America,” suggesting that the answer to that question was no unless the people reelected him. He then laid the burden on the press, claiming that the people would not have the right information to choose correctly if they did not act.

“We have to take this seriously. Eight years ago, it could have been written off as just Trump talk, but no longer, not after January 6. I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides, but asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment,” Biden said. “Every single one of us has roles to play — a serious role, to play in making sure democracy endures, American democracy. I have my role, but with all due respect, so do you. In the age of disinformation, credible information that people can trust is more important than ever and that makes you, and I mean this with the bottom of my heart, makes you more important than ever.”

Biden’s “Nerd Prom” exhortation came on the heels of an interview with radio shock jock Howard Stern, during which he had complained that the press was reluctant to hold Donald Trump accountable, ostensibly for fear of retaliation from the former president.

And sure enough, as Sunday morning dawned, the usual suspects loaded up the last week’s worth of ammunition and turned their aim on Trump.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan cited recent polls and asked how it was possible that Trump was breaking even with Biden in several key battleground states.

Noting that Biden had won Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2020, Brennan asked CBS’ elections and surveys director Anthony Salvanto why Trump was only two points behind Biden in Michigan and one point ahead in the other two states.

Brennan made no mention of the fact that Trump had won all three of those states in 2016, when he was running against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump and President Biden are now running even in three battleground states that Biden won in 2020: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Why are they so close?

Elections And Surveys Director @SalvantoCBS discusses our latest CBS News battleground polling: pic.twitter.com/dPDeRgLKEb

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 28, 2024

Brennan also put pressure on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), peppering him with questions about the fact that he had endorsed former President Trump.

On CNN, “State of the Union” anchor Dana Bash took a similar tack with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) when she asked him to weigh in on Trump’s immunity claim — which was argued Thursday before the Supreme Court — and whether it worried him that the case could still be undecided come Election Day.

Graham turned Bash’s question on its head, firing back, “Why don’t you ask me — If he’s convicted in any of these trials, would it change my view? No. I think all these trials are political.”

The South Carolina Senator went on to argue that he didn’t believe Americans were going to decide their votes based on Trump’s legal troubles at all. Rather, he said, they would vote based on the issues that affected them personally: inflation, crime, and the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

“If he’s convicted in any of these trials, would it change my view? No.”

.@LindseyGrahamSC tells @DanaBashCNN that he will vote for Donald Trump even if he is convicted. pic.twitter.com/MtcMBjxTTR

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) April 28, 2024

“Meet the Press” (NBC) anchor Kristen Welker also spoke with McConnell about Trump, asking whether he was still committed to his promise to support the GOP nominee — even if it was former President Trump — and whether he regretted voting to acquit Trump in the impeachment that followed January 6.

McConnell’s response was simple: “I addressed this issue on January 6th and on February 13th. I stand by everything I said.”

WATCH: Do you ever regret your vote to acquit fmr. President Trump in his second impeachment trial? @kwelkernbc asks @LeaderMcConnell.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): “I addressed this issue on January 6th and on February 13th. I stand by everything I said.” pic.twitter.com/omF3emND7o

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 28, 2024

And while CBS, CNN, and NBC certainly followed the Biden-prescribed outline, it was ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and MSNBC’s Jenn Psaki who truly outdid themselves, taking up the challenge like they were doing the Lord’s work.

On “This Week,” Stephanopoulos devoted an entire monologue to the “unprecedented” scene playing out before the American public as Trump is forced to do legal battle in multiple jurisdictions — which leaves Biden free to campaign in peace while still leaving enough time for Howard Stern interviews, weekends at the beach, and 1:00 p.m. lids.

““Until now, no American presidential race had been more defined by what’s happening in courtrooms than what’s happening on the campaign trail,” he said.

“Until now, no American presidential race had been more defined by what’s happening in courtrooms than what’s happening on the campaign trail.” @GStephanopoulos on the latest political news: https://t.co/vsSg1XMv5C pic.twitter.com/6LEskOurFz

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 28, 2024

And as for the former White House Press Secretary — whose focus on “Inside with Jen Psaki” rarely strays from Trump — her usual “mostly Trump” show became the “almost entirely Trump” show.

Psaki brought in a few guests to help her take on the former President — including Andrew Weissmann, who claimed that the Supreme Court’s decision with regard to presidential immunity could spell disaster for “democracy as we know it.”

“We are essentially one vote away from the end of democracy as we know it,” he warned.

“We are essentially one vote away from the end of democracy as we know it.”
@AWeissmann_ on the stakes in SCOTUS presidential immunity case. pic.twitter.com/6zbn8glBmu

— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) April 28, 2024

Psaki herself delivered a monologue asserting that Trump’s plans, if he won, included a move to “dismantle the administrative state” — and suggested that he intended for the Justice System to “look the other way” while he did what he pleased.

“When it comes to Donald Trump, those hypotheticals that got tossed around in the Supreme Court this week aren’t really hypotheticals … This view of the presidency that Trump has – this absolute power, above-the-law mindset – is literally the plan for a second term,” she said.

.@jrpsaki: “When it comes to Donald Trump, those hypotheticals that got tossed around in the Supreme Court this week aren’t really hypotheticals… This view of the presidency that Trump has – this absolute power, above-the-law mindset – is literally the plan for a second term.” pic.twitter.com/q5jcKjGo7w

— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) April 28, 2024

In addition to a conversation with former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain — also focused on Trump — Psaki spoke with “Pod Save America” host Jon Favreau about … Trump.

“I think that the more Donald Trump is out there… talking about himself, his own grievances, him being the victim — that feeds into the message that Biden wants to get out there anyway, which is that Joe Biden’s fighting for people and Trump’s fighting for himself,” Favreau said.

.@jonfavs: “I think that the more Donald Trump is out there… talking about himself, his own grievances, him being the victim – that feeds into the message that Biden wants to get out there anyway, which is that Joe Biden’s fighting for people and Trump’s fighting for himself.” pic.twitter.com/BDRAgdwiXZ

— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) April 28, 2024

The only person to buck Biden’s call to arms was “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream, whose questions about Trump were reserved for Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) regarding the possibility that he could be tapped as the former president’s running mate.

WATCH: @JDVance1 on speculation he’s a candidate for Trump’s vice president pick. pic.twitter.com/4R6kDV3Qxb

— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) April 28, 2024