More Fake News: Morning Shows Try to Pin Violent G20 Riots on Trump
7th July 2017
After a long night of violence in Hamburg at the international G20 Summit, where left-wing, anti-capitalist rioters injured over 70 police officers, ABC and CBS still found a way to blame Trump for the violence. Despite both networks acknowledging that violence at these summits is “nothing new,” ABC and CBS spun that Trump’s presence was one of the primary reasons activists were inspired to commit violence.
Friday morning’s Good Morning America broadcast on ABC treated the rioters with kid gloves. Despite setting cars on fire, looting businesses and throwing bottles and rocks at police, ABC’s James Longman simply called them “protesters” instead of the more accurate “rioters” or “looters.” Not to mention that no political affiliation was ascribed to them. From watching ABC’s report alone, the viewer would have a hard time understanding who the “protesters” were and what exactly they were protesting. The only hint comes at the end of Longman’s report, which finally calls them “anti-capitalist” but frames their actions around Trump:
“Anti-capitalist protests always target G20 meetings but this year the stakes are higher than ever as President Trump comes to town,” Longman urged.
If it wasn’t clear already what ABC was implying, Longman repeated this sentiment again in his report the next hour of Good Morning America:
“It’s unclear who was provoking who but I think it’s fair to say that with Donald Trump in town, the stakes are certainly higher.”
Too bad George W. Bush isn’t around any more, they could blame him, too.