Sudden Respect: ABC, NBC Morning Shows Fawn Over Cheney…Because He Hated Trump

Tuesday’s sudden passing of former Vice President Dick Cheney at 84 brought all the usual, likely long-taped-in-advance obituaries on ABC, CBS, and NBC that one should expect for major political figures. Not surprisingly, they not only harped on the Republican Cheney’s role in the war on terror, but engaged in heavy doses of sudden respect for the man they spent decades pillorying as a war criminal.

Why? Well, because he virulently despised President Trump, leaving his past sins largely forgiven! And, in another unsurprising move, ABC’s Good Morning America was giddy in emphasizing Cheney’s anti-Trump tilt.

Before GMA, the bias had already begun on ABC with a brief, 72-second Special Report from Stephanopoulos, who used 19 seconds to emphasize the infamous quail hunting incident and Cheney’s opposition to Trump.

 

On GMA itself, ABC chief Washington correspondent and four-time anti-Trump author Jonathan Karl led into his pretaped obituary by insisting part of Cheney’s legacy would be “a dramatic change in politics late in his life,” referring to his turn toward Democrats.

Karl continued this theme, closing out said taped report with this fawning adulation:

And Cheney was a sharp critic of President Trump's actions on and before January 6, standing by his daughter Liz, that a member of Congress from Wyoming, on the first anniversary of the attack, condemning the former president in a campaign video he shot for his daughter during the 2022 midterm elections...In 2024, the lifelong Republican endorsed Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump, saying Trump should never be trusted with power again after January 6. And that Americans “each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution.”

Back live with Stephanopoulos and co-host Robin Roberts, Karl continued to make Cheney’s passing all about Trump:

When he endorsed Kamala Harris, it wasn't simply remarkable for his endorsement of a Democrat for the first time in his entire life. But what he said about Donald Trump. He said: “In our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He can never be trusted with power again.”

Stephanopoulos further weighed in during the second hour after a truncated Karl report, gushing about Cheney having “really set an example” in supporting “the rule of law” with Roberts concurring Cheney put “country over party”:

 

Over on NBC’s Today, they made a genuinely classy move after an Iraq-focused obit by Andrea Mitchell (with a passing January 6 mention) by welcoming back former longtime Justice correspondent Pete Williams to share memories of Cheney.

For younger readers or those not aware, Williams began his career in Washington by serving as a Cheney aide at the Pentagon in the George H.W. Bush administration:

 

Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker gushed over Cheney by saying his passing “showcased the divide in the Republican Party” with “the old guard, conservative Republican Party versus the new guard of MAGA” and that his opposition to Trump was “so searing” because he believed in “defending the old guard of the Republican Party.”

Other than a spirited and even debate in the second hour between CBS News contributors Joel Payne and Terry Sullivan, the only CBS Mornings mention of Cheney and Trump came as a footnote from co-host Tony Dokoupil at the end of chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett’s pretaped obituary:

Dick Cheney, as you just heard, defined Republican Party politics for decades. In his final presidential election last year, he cast his vote for a Democrat, however, Kamala Harris. That was last year and he said there is “no greater threat to America than Donald Trump.” That was his final position.