ABC’s Moran Lumps UK’s Farage In with Trump Despite Rebuke; Canada’s Trudeau Offers ‘Sharp Relief’

December 13th, 2015 3:49 PM

Reporting on Sunday’s This Week about foreign reaction to Donald Trump’s candidacy and proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., ABC News chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran compared Trump to U.K. Independence Party (U.K.I.P.) leader Nigel Farage despite his firm denouncement of Trump. 

In addition, the liberal correspondent cheered new leftist Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as providing “sharp relief” to Trump as he publicly “greeted a plane load Syrian refugees” on Friday.

Host George Stephanopoulos introduced Moran’s piece by explaining that Trump’s rhetoric has “sent shockwaves far beyond our borders” with “[w]orld leaders reacting” and “his businesses taking a hit.” 

Nonetheless, he hyped that “politicians across the developed world have been also been echoing Trump's unvarnished populism.” This is despite the fact that many of the leaders Moran went onto highlight already held the positions they did long before Trump came along. 

Moran ruled that “Trump is not alone” by claiming that his rise coincides with how:

In country after country, populist leaders are gaining ground, like Marine LePen in France, who's soaring in the polls with a Trumpian brew of anti-immigration policies and nationalism. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban is sounding the same theme and he's building a razor-wire fence to keep Syrian refugees from flowing in.

For a third comparison, Moran invoked UKIP’s Farage and completely ignored the fact that Farage has rebuked Trump. Here’s portions of Farage’s comments from The Independent:

When asked about Mr Trump’s comments Nigel Farage told BBC News that the UK had a “huge problem” but said the Republican presidential nomination contender had “gone too far”.

“I think Mr Trump’s somewhat knee-jerk reaction to this, saying that all Muslims should be banned from coming into America was perhaps for him a political mistake too far,” he told the new channel.

 “I think with this comment he’s gone too far, I would expect people to say this look – this is unreasonable, because what you would be doing is punishing a lot of very good people because of the actions of a few.”

Adding in only the briefest of caveats that “none have gone as far as Trump,” Moran continued the liberal media’s growing love affair with new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: “Trump's Muslim ban was thrown into sharp relief Friday as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Turdeau greeted a plane load Syrian refugees.”

The transcript of the segment from ABC’s This Week on December 13 can be found below.

ABC’s This Week
December 13, 2015
10:31 a.m. Eastern

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Donald Trump's words have sent shockwaves far beyond our borders. World leaders reacting, his businesses taking a hit. There's even a petition circulating in the U.K. of nearly 6,000 signatures that would ban Trump from traveling to England. But as our chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran reports, politicians across the developed world have been also been echoing Trump's unvarnished populism.

TERRY MORAN: That's Donald Trump's theme song. D. Synder’s We're Not Gonna Take It. It's the essence of his anti-establishment appeal, but Trump is not alone. In country after country, populist leaders are gaining ground, like Marine LePen in France, who's soaring in the polls with a Trumpian brew of anti-immigration policies and nationalism. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban is sounding the same theme and he's building a razor-wire fence to keep Syrian refugees from flowing in. In Britain, there’s Nigel Farage of the small, U.K. Independence Party. But none have gone as far as Trump. 

DONALD TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. 

MORAN: That extremist proposal Trump unveiled this week shocked people around the world. In London —

UNIDENTIFIED BRITISH MUSLIM MAN: It's not right. It's not fair to million of people, not just me. 

MORAN: The West Bank —

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The United States was built by immigrants. 

MORAN: In Paris — 

UNIDENTIFIED WHITE PARIS MAN: I think it's really crazy.

MORAN: In Dubai, they tore his name and face off a billboard at his golf course there and British Prime Minister David Cameron called his proposal “divisive, unhelpful, and quite simply wrong.” U.S. officials and many others worry that Trump's proposal plays right into the hands of ISIS, who will use it for recruitment. Trump's Muslim ban was thrown into sharp relief Friday as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeted a plane load Syrian refugees. 

CANADIEN PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU: This is your home. Thank you. Welcome home.

MORAN: But so far, being the Republican's establishment nightmare — 

TRUMP: Establishment’s got a problem

MORAN: — is working just fine for Donald Trump with Republican voters. For This Week, Terry Moran, ABC News, London.