Bongino Slams 'Absolute Disgrace' Chuck Todd over Clash with GOP Senator
If the mainstream media’s reputation wasn’t already bad enough, Chuck Todd just made it worse.
The host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” is generally not known for having a sparkling personality — there’s a reason President Donald Trump calls him “Sleepy Eyes” — but he decided to really let go Sunday in an interview with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
On Monday, the fallout was still continuing.
In an appearance on Fox News “Fox & Friends,” conservative commentator and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino was asked what he thought of the heated Todd-Johnson exchange, and Bongino didn’t hold back.
“Chuck Todd is a disgrace to humankind. How this guy pretends still to be a journalist to this day is still an embarrassment,” Bongino said.
The “Meet the Press” clash occurred when Todd accused Johnson of bringing up “Fox News conspiracy propaganda stuff” while the senator was answering a question about the possibility that Trump had frozen military aid to Ukraine for his own political ends.
“This is exactly why President Trump is upset and why his supporters are upset at the news media,” Johnson started to answer, sparking a heated back-and-forth in which Todd had no qualms about raising his voice to a sitting United States senator on national television.
WATCH: @Chucktodd says @SenRonJohnson is “trying to make Donald Trump feel better” by bringing up a conspiracy theory instead of answering a question about his quote in a recent WSJ article. #MTP #IfItsSunday pic.twitter.com/1Xsq6zE3Ak
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 6, 2019
From the fact that the clip appears on the “Meet the Press” Twitter account, it’s pretty clear that the show is proud of Todd’s handiwork.
But in the “Fox & Friends” interview Monday, Bongino outlined why the exact opposite should be true.
Johnson “should have walked off that set,” he said.
“Chuck Todd needs to resign in absolute disgrace,” Bongino said. “He should issue a full-throated apology to Ron Johnson, and no credible Republican should appear on that network again.”
In increasingly angry tones, he noted the absurdity of an NBC commentator accusing Fox or conservatives of a “conspiracy theory” when MSNBC was one of the leading pushers of the Trump-Russia “collusion” allegation that surrounded the Trump White House for two years until dying with a whimper with the report by former special counsel Robert Mueller and Mueller’s Capitol Hill testimony.
“We’re the conspiracy theory network?” asked Bongino, a Fox News contributor. “The network that actually nailed this story from Day One? We’re the conspiracy theory network?”
The “Meet the Press” discussion starts about the 2:45 mark here:
Bongino’s conclusion — addressed to Todd — was spitting fire.
“Don’t you dare, dare go on the air, you partisan hack, you loser, and call this network out,” he said. “Because we have nailed this story for two straight years while you poked fun at us and poked the bear.
“That was a disgraceful episode. … He needs to resign and apologize.”
Todd isn’t going to resign, of course.
And as “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade pointed out, the tussle could well have pleased his NBC bosses enough to merit a raise.
But there’s more at stake here than Chuck Todd’s hackery. Most conservatives already know the mainstream media can’t be trusted, but those who are not committed politically might still be expecting at least an element of honesty.
Fair-minded viewers who watch that Todd-Johnson exchange will know that what they are seeing is less journalism than just more partisan grandstanding — and if they see Bongino’s take, they’ll know he has a point.
“Journalism” in the Trump era has already made enough of its own bad publicity.
On Sunday, Chuck Todd just made it worse.
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