The media’s desire to make themselves the main character in the story reached the Platonic level on Wednesday as CBS correspondent Scott MacFarlane joined former moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, Chuck Todd, on his appropriately named podcast: The Chuck Toddcast. According to MacFarlane, he was diagnosed with PTSD after the first assassination attempt against President Trump, not because of the shooting, but because of the reaction of Trump supporters. Meanwhile, Todd thought this was a completely reasonable thing to claim.
MacFarlane recalled, “For those of us there, it was such a horror because you saw an emerging America. And it wasn't the shooting, Chuck. This was—I got diagnosed with PTSD within 48 hours. I got put on trauma leave, not because, I think, of the shooting, but because, you could, you saw it in the eyes, the reaction of the people. They were coming for us. If he didn't jump up with his fist, they were going to come kill us.”
A PTSD diagnosis requires a month of symptoms, not two days. Nevertheless, Todd responded with his own memories, “I was on a plane to Milwaukee… And the plane's Wi-Fi didn't work… and we touch down, and everybody's phones come on, and you just—everybody starts looking at each other, not saying a word for total fear of just anything being misconstrued, not anything. And there was, look, I share your concern. Just a little thing. I was—literally first thing I was going to do after landing on Saturday was go to the Nats-Brewers game, and I said, ‘I'm not going. I'm not going to be seen going. I'm not, I'm not doing that. This is not the moment for this.’"
Todd also claimed, “I share that, that Saturday, and what you just described being on the ground was my first thing I thought of was my team down there. I think it was Vaughn Hillyard, if I'm not mistaken— Dasha Burns, right? And, look, let's be honest. We've been fearing this for about a decade. That all of this heightened rhetoric, that what all this crap online, what happened on January 6, those of us that experienced that as well, you're like, we're a tinderbox, right? You know what? There's a fear that this moment is coming. And it's interesting that you—the fact that we dodged that. You know, you're right. I mean, it's, it is—I don't know what would have happened had the outcome been different.”
MacFarlane then repeated his earlier claims about attendees wanting to kill journalists, “We are all—many of us on press row, as we talked about this on our text chains for weeks after, we're quite confident we'd be dead if he didn't get back up. There was a subset, not everybody, there's dozens of people in the crowd who started coming for us, saying, ‘You did this. This is your fault. You caused this. You killed him.’ And they're going to beat us with their hands. I mean, they were going to kill us."
He added, “When he jumped up triumphantly, it saved us, but that's the thing. I can't eliminate from my mind's eye the look in their faces. They—that's what America is right now. It's not rational. It's an irrational thought to think the media shot somebody from atop a building, but the lack of rationality is what connects January 6 to this. It's—how do we pull out of this as a country is the defining question of our time. I mean, it's what is my north star for my reporting is the lack of stability, the destabilization, the political violence, and the toxicity is defining us right now. And it should underscore all of our reporting.”
NewsBusters intern Shannon Saunders was in Butler on that day and called out MacFarlane’s self-centered depiction of events, “If you got ‘PTSD’ by looking at the American people who just saw their candidate get shot and then make it sound like you are the victim, you are a narcissist.”
As someone who was there, maybe Scott, you and your colleagues have been endorsing violent rhetoric on President Trump for a decade in the media.
— Shannon Sauders (@shannonsauders) July 17, 2025
If you got "PTSD" by looking at the American people who just saw their candidate get shot and then make it sound like you are the… https://t.co/fhEIbB6dKa
H/T Jason Cohen of The Daily Caller
Here is a transcript of the July 16 show:
The Chuck ToddCast
7/16/2025
SCOTT MACFARLANE: For those of us there, it was such a horror because you saw an emerging America. And it wasn't the shooting, Chuck. This was—I got diagnosed with PTSD within 48 hours. I got put on trauma leave, not because, I think, of the shooting, but because, you could, you saw it in the eyes, the reaction of the people. They were coming for us. If he didn't jump up with his fist, they were going to come kill us.
CHUCK TODD: I know. I'll tell you. So, I was on a plane to Milwaukee.
MACFARLANE: Convention.
TODD: To the convention. We happened—I was on a plane that was—might as well have been a press charter. Okay. Like, there was a whole bunch of, you know, mildly bold-faced names if you want to count me among those and Jake Tapper, people like that. And the plane's Wi-Fi didn't work. Okay. So, Kellyanne Conway was on this flight, by the way. I mean, it was just, sort of, like it was just this mix of everybody that you would expect heading to a Milwaukee on a Saturday and we touch down, and everybody's phones come on, and you just—everybody starts looking at each other, not saying a word for total fear of just anything being misconstrued, not anything.
And there was, look, I share your concern. Just a little thing. I was—literally first thing I was going to do after landing on Saturday was go to the Nats-Brewers game and, I said, "I'm not going. I'm not going to be seen going. I'm not, I'm not doing that. This is not the moment for this."
And I think we — none of us knew what the reaction of that Milwaukee crowd was going to be to this. Right? It turned into euphoria, right? It turned into this messiah, sort of messiah feeling. I think that, you know, that this was divine intervention and the convention turned into this, sort of, almost out of body experience, like that convention had, sort of, to me, ended up not really feeling like it met the moment. I think Trump himself was still traumatized by the event. You could feel that throughout the week, but I share that, that Saturday, and what you just described being on the ground was my first thing I thought of was my team down there. I think it was Vaughn Hillyard, if I'm not mistaken—
MACFARLANE: Dasha was there as well.
TODD: Dasha Burns, right? And, look, let's be honest. We've been fearing this for about a decade. That all of this heightened rhetoric, that what all this crap online, what happened on January 6, those of us that experienced that as well, you're like, we're a tinderbox, right? You know what? There's a fear that this moment is coming. And it's interesting that you—the fact that we dodged that. You know, you're right. I mean, it's, it is—I don't know what would have happened had the outcome been different.
MACFARLANE: We are all—many of us on press row, as we talked about this on our text chains for weeks after, we're quite confident we'd be dead if he didn't get back up. There was a subset, not everybody, there's dozens of people in the crowd who started coming for us, saying, "You did this. This is your fault. You caused this. You killed him.”
And they're going to beat us with their hands. I mean, they were going to kill us. And respectfully, the Secret Service had bigger issues in protecting us.
When he jumped up triumphantly, it saved us, but that's the thing. I can't eliminate from my mind's eye the look in their faces. They—that's what America is right now. It's not rational. It's an irrational thought to think the media shot somebody from atop a building, but the lack of rationality is what connects January 6 to this. It's—how do we pull out of this as a country is the defining question of our time.
I mean, it's what is my north star for my reporting is the lack of stability, the destabilization, the political violence, and the toxicity is defining us right now. And it should underscore all of our reporting.
