Congress
New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg went into a defensive crouch on behalf of the Democratic Party as it was being “vilified” by the GOP in Monday’s “Republicans Hope to Sway Voters With Labels That Demonize Democrats.” The online headline was even less objective: “Republicans Already Are Demonizing Democrats as Socialists and Baby Killers.” Stolberg’s lead resembled more the work of a whining liberal columnist than a hard-nosed political reporter: "In the 116th Congress, if you’re a Democrat, you’re either a socialist, a baby killer or an anti-Semite."
On Saturday's MSNBC Live, weekend anchor Richard Lui provided an unchallenged forum for 17-year-old Houston city council candidate Marcel McClinton to advocate for more gun control. The MSNBC host also suggested that Illinois is better off than Texas because it has more stringent gun laws and a higher grade from an anti-gun group, but he did not notice that the murder rate for Illinois in recent years has been significantly higher than in Texas.
On Friday's CNN Tonight, conservative CNN contributor Steve Cortes was outnumbered 2-1 as host Don Lemon and frequent guest and Donald Trump critic Rick Wilson lambasted him for supporting President Trump's plan to declare a national emergency to build a border wall.
Minutes after President Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S. southern border on Friday, MSNBC congressional correspondent Garrett Haake touted Democrats scrambling to release “statements and tweets about how ridiculous they found that entire press conference.” Later in afternoon, the reporter even eagerly predicted that liberal lawmakers would be able exploit the deaths of military service members to denounce the executive action.
On Friday's New Day show, CNN co-host John Berman allowed Georgia Democratic Congresswoman Lucy McBath to mislead viewers on a proposed new gun law being considered in Congress as she claimed it would require background checks when purchasing from "licensed" gun dealers. In reality, licensed gun dealers are already required to conduct background checks, and the purpose of the new law is to require private sellers who are unlicensed to also conduct such checks.
On the one-year anniversary of the Parkland school shootings, CNN anchor Erin Hill gave no pushback on the New Day show after she invited Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell to promote a gun control plan being considered by Congress. The same CNN show that has recently dismissed arguments in favor of border security that could save many lives each year also apparently saw no irony in the congresswoman pulling out the old "if it saves just one life" argument to justify infringing on the rights of law-abiding American citizens to acquire guns.
Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's CNN Newsroom to debate whether there is an equivalence between Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar blaming Jewish donors for Congress's support of Israel, and past comments made by several Republicans, liberal CNN contributor Peter Beinart smeared Israel by accusing the Jewish state of practicing "state-sponsored bigotry" against Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and "violating human rights."
On Wednesday's Early Start show, CNN hosts Dave Briggs and Christine Romans appeared amused at a Wall Street Journal editorial attacking conservatives like FNC's Sean Hannity for having success in lobbying President Donald Trump. In the first of four similar briefs that ran during the two-hour morning show, co-host Romans recalled Hannity's recent criticism of the bipartisan deal on border security: "Fox News host and frequent presidential advisor Sean Hannity again blasting the border compromise deal."
Thursday marked the first day of what President Trump suggested was “presidential harassment” by House Democrats via numerous investigations into seemingly all aspects of his life. The liberal media cheered on the investigations with both ABC and CBS evening news programs boasting about how the Democrats were “kicking” things into a “higher gear”.
MSNBC’s midnight edition of Hardball was a trainwreck following Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Trump, so it was only natural for the fun (or whatever you want to call it) to continue into the final hour of coverage. For that, MSNBC turned things over to The Beat host Ari Melber, who oversaw plenty of nonsense on abortion, the President, and Stacey Abrams from guests Mara Gay of The New York Times editorial board and The Root’s Jason Johnson.
At midnight Eastern Wednesday, MSNBC followed usual form for big news nights such as debates, election nights, and presidential speeches in somehow allowing Chris Matthews to host a late-night edition of Hardball to recap President Trump's State of the Union. Inside the blog, there are slides containing some of the silliest series of hot takes from that hour, presented in chronological order.
Continuing their theme of bashing President Trump on Tuesday night, NBC News reacted to his State of the Union address with scorn by slamming it as incoherent “additive” when not talking about immigration but showing strong affection for Stacey Abrams’s Democratic response that the network deemed “strong” because it “scolded the President.”