Despite plenty of coverage on the Saturday flagship morning and evening newscasts (and into the Sunday shows), ABC, CBS, and NBC were still harping Monday morning on the No Kings protests over the weekend, ignoring the ugly signs from some of the rallies, including more than a few celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The coverage unsurprisingly paled in comparison to how they covered the Tea Party rallies, which we chronicled ahead of the 2010 midterms:
ABC’s Good Morning America was predictably the worst with co-host Robin Roberts and virulent Trump hater Rachel Scott was on the case:
NBC’s Today offered an interesting strategy, partnering three stories into one piece: No Kings, the tree-stand threat to Air Force One in Florida, and the President deploying troops to Democrat cities. But it was tying the first two together that was peculiar (yet fitting given the far-left’s rhetoric toward the President):
“We move now to an intensifying FBI investigation in Florida after the Secret Service uncovered a suspicious hunting stand near the Palm Beach Airport where Air Force One frequently lands. That discovery coming on the same weekend that millions of Americans took part in nationwide No Kings rallies against the Trump administration,” co-host Savannah Guthrie began.
Senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake started with the tree stand and sprinkled in a No Kings nod (click “expand”):
[T]he discovery of that hunting stand in the woods near Palm Beach Airport really raising concerns for a President who has already been the target of two assassination attempts. But the President’s weekend trip to Florida went off without a hitch as around the country, millions gathered to protest a President they say is acting like a king. President Trump back at the White House after a weekend trip to Florida. The FBI investigating a suspicious hunting stand found in a tree near Palm Beach International Airport that has a direct sight line to where the President would have exited Air Force One.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service says agents discovered the stand last Thursday before Mr. Trump’s arrival in Florida Friday. A senior official familiar with the investigation said the stand was about 200 yards away from an area where Air Force One does not normally park, but the plane did park there on Friday due to construction. Three sources familiar with the matter say the suspicious stand may have been there for months. And investigators are now looking at several possibilities, including whether it’s an old hunting stand, a perch used by a photographer or a possible threat. [GUN SHOTS] President Trump faced two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign.
After touching on San Francisco as the next possible destination of national guardsmen, Haake said Trump’s “deploying of federal troops in America cities fueling No Kings demonstrations nationwide Saturday with massive crowds gathering form coast-to-coast...rallying against the Trump presidency.”
“Organizers said nearly seven million turned out in more than 2,700 demonstrations nationwide. The President asked about the rallies late Sunday...Mr. Trump also taunting demonstrators on social media, sharing two AI-generated videos depicting himself as a king. In one, which NBC News is choosing not to show, dumping what appears to be raw sewage on protesters,” he added.
CBS Mornings was the only one to still have a full segment. Co-host Tony Dokoupil said “[m]illions of Americans came together across the country on Saturday to protest against the Trump administration” and insist “our country is in danger of sliding into dictatorship.”
Politics reporter Taurean Small gushed “[f]rom Times Square to L.A., millions turned out for the No Kings Day of Protests, pushing back against what they call abuse of power by President Trump.”
In between sound from two white liberals in D.C., Small added “[d]emonstrators called out Trump’s policies, including his crackdown on immigration, domestic use of the military and environmental rollbacks.”
To his credit, Small found a counter-demonstrator (click “expand”):
SMALL: Many Americans calling it exactly that, including House Speaker Mike Johnson who described the protests as anti-American, but not everyone at the rally supported the theme.
COUNTER-PROTESTER: Well, I like — I basically like the direction we are going under the Trump administration. [SCREEN WIPE] I want to hear everybody’s voice. This way I know what is real.
SMALL: The President trolled demonstrators with social media posts including this AI video of himself flying a fighter jet and dropping brown sludge on protesters. He spoke with reporters last night.
TRUMP: I think it’s a joke. I looked at the people. They’re not representative of this country. [SCREEN WIPE] I’m not a king. I my ass off to make our country great.
To see the relevant transcripts from October 20, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
