How Fox News and CNN reacted to Biden dropping out of the race: 'An absolute earthquake'
President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection Sunday morning, July 21 in an announcement that was stunning, but not surprising.
TV networks jumped into action immediately, scrambling for details and reactions while trying to figure out what's next for Democrats.
"Major, major breaking news," Alex Marquardt said, announcing the decision on CNN.
"We have major breaking news," Katy Tur said on MSNBC.
"Massive breaking news," Mike Emanuel said on Fox News. You get the idea; it's a huge story.
It's also a story that's been in the works for weeks, ever since Biden's disastrous debate against Donald Trump in June.
Reports emerged a week earlier that a previously defiant Biden might consider dropping out, but there is no question that the actual announcement — a post on social media from Biden as he continues to recover from COVID-19 — caught a lot of people by surprise.
Biden's decision to drop out caught networks by surprise
"Given the brevity of the time we have between now and the election in November, this is without a doubt an absolute earthquake for Democrats," Kevin Corke said on Fox News. No doubt, especially since, in recent days — in recent hours, even — it seemed as if the president, in defiance of several reports, was newly determined to stay in the race.
Where were we 15 minutes ago, Marquardt asked CNN reporter Priscilla Alvarez.
"Where we were is that the campaign, his allies, had said he was staying in this race," Alvarez said. "That's what we were hearing over the course of the morning."
Selena Wang reported Sunday on ABC News, "As late as last night I was talking to my sources, these Biden aides who are close to the President, saying the President was still angry and upset, that he felt betrayed by some of his closest allies who had turned against him, that he was still digging his heels in."
Mary Bruce on ABC News echoed Wang's reporting, even repeating some of the language: "Just a couple hours ago some of the President’s allies were out on the Sunday talk shows saying he was all in, that he wasn’t going anywhere. They were digging in."
It was the second weekend in a row a huge story pressed the media into action on short notice. An assassination attempt on Trump on July 13 a couple of days before the Republican National Convention was another huge story — but that one was a complete surprise.
Biden's decision was less so, which is doubtless why much of the coverage quickly shifted to what's next.
Did Biden endorse Kamala?
"A massive question now is what (the Democratic National) Convention looks like," Hallie Jackson said during an NBC News special report. "Who delivers that critical prime-time speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency?"
The smart money is on Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed in a second social-media post. Exactly how that will play out seems to be an open question.
"There are no rules in the Democratic Party bylaws, in essence, for how this is supposed to proceed," Ed O'Keefe said on CBS News. "We are in total, unequivocal, uncharted American political territory at this point. So much is unknown about how exactly the party will proceed."
The GOP has already begun attacking Kamala Harris
There is little doubt about how Trump and the Republican Party will proceed. They will proceed by attacking Harris, something they started shortly after Biden made his announcement.
Robert Costa said on CBS News that Donald Trump Jr. texted him, bashing Harris, saying, among other things, "The only difference is she is even more liberal and less competent than Joe, and that's saying something."
"This is an indicator," Costa said. "This is going to be rough-and-tumble like we've never seen it."
Republicans are also pushing the notion that if Biden isn't up to running for reelection, he's not up to running the country and should resign immediately. Fox News shifted to this reporting quickly and hit it hard, but they were hardly alone in covering that aspect of the story — though no one really noted that the two jobs are vastly different and require different skills.
"Look, this is going to be an issue," Jeff Zeleny said on CNN. "The presidency is still his. But this is going to be a soundtrack for the rest of his campaign — is he fit to serve for President right now? It may be a distraction, or it may be a rallying cry for Democrats."
It's just another story to follow in a month that has been filled with them, with no signs of stopping now.
'Remarkably dishonest': Trump's acceptance speech at the RNC
Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected]. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fox News, CNN react to Biden dropping out, endorsing Harris