MSNBC host Rachel Maddow announced Monday night that her network would not air former President Trump’s speech after his victory in the Iowa caucuses unless he said something newsworthy, telling viewers that MSNBC and other news networks will not give the former president and Republican frontrunner a platform to say “untrue things.”
“At this point in the evening the projected winner of the Iowa caucuses has just started giving his victory speech,” Maddow began, oddly avoiding Trump’s name. “We will keep an eye on that as it happens. We will let you know if there is any news made in that speech, if there is anything noteworthy, something substantive and important.”
The longtime MSNBC host, infamous for peddling disinformation and outright lies on a host of issues, including RussiaGate and the COVID injections, told her audience that NBC and other news outlets are forced to censor Trump because of their fidelity to the truth.
“The reason I’m saying this is, of course, there is a reason that we and other news organizations have generally stopped giving an unfiltered, live platform to remarks by former President Trump,” Maddow said. “It is not out of spite, it is not a decision that we relish, it is a decision that we regularly revisit. And, honestly, earnestly, it is not an easy decision.”
She went on to suggest that giving Trump a platform to say “untrue things” would damage MSNBC’s reputation. “But there is a cost to us, as a news organization,” Maddow said, “of knowingly broadcasting untrue things. That is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are. And so, his remarks, tonight, will not air here live. We will monitor them and let you know about any news that he makes.”
MSNBC host @maddow says NBC and other mainstream news networks have decided not to show Trump’s victory speech. CNN had him on briefly but then cut away and replaced him with @jaketapper who says “caucus goers believe the lie.” pic.twitter.com/dnUHEB1wqH
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) January 16, 2024
CNN played a small portion of Trump’s speech, but quickly broke away when the former president mentioned the crisis at the southern border.
Trump began his speech by urging Republicans to unify behind him, commending the other candidates in the race for their strong showings and thanking his campaign staff.
“I really think this is time now for everybody, our country, to come together,” Trump told his supporters. “We want to come together, whether … Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative.”
“I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a good time together. We are all having a good time together. And I think they both actually did very well, I do. They both did very well,” Trump said, referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
He added, referring to Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, “I also want to congratulate Vivek. He did a hell of a job, going from zero, and he’s getting about 8 percent.”
He then pivoted to talking about the issues. “We are going to seal at the border. Because, right now, we have an invasion. We have an invasion of millions and millions of people that are coming into our country. I can’t imagine why they think that’s a good thing,” he proclaimed.
Tapper immediately started speaking over Trump’s remarks. “Donald Trump declaring victory with a historically strong showing in the Iowa caucuses,” he said.
“If these numbers hold, the biggest victory for a non-incumbent president in the modern era for this contest,” Tapper continued. “A relatively subdued speech as the things go so far. Although, here he is, right now, under my voice. You can hear him repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
The MSNBC and CNN audiences missed hearing Trump go on to hammer Biden as “the worst president that we have had in the history of our country,”
“I don’t want to be overly rough on the president, but I have to say that he is the worst president that we have had in the history of our country,” Trump said. “He’s destroying our country. … I thought to myself, Jimmy Carter is happy now. Because he will go down as being a brilliant president by comparison to Joe Biden.”
Trump vowed that if he wins another term, “We are going to seal up the border” and “drill baby drill,” He also said as president he will be tough on China, and “solve” the Ukraine war the “Israeli situation.”