NBC host Chuck Todd faced a firestorm on Twitter on Sunday over his choice of words calling President-elect Joe Biden the “apparent winner.”
During his weekly Meet the Press program, Todd offered no pushback as Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) falsely claimed that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “started with no evidence and ended with no evidence.”
Instead, Todd moved on to a question about the refusal by General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy to allow Biden’s transition to formally begin.
“I just want to confirm, you believe the head of GSA tomorrow morning at this point ought to say the transition needs to begin?” Todd asked Cramer. “It looks like Joe Biden is going to be the apparent winner. Yes, there’s more to go through.”
He continued: “If this is what the head of GSA said, ‘Yes, there’s still more to go through but it looks like Joe Biden’s the apparent winner, let’s allow the transition process to begin.’ Should that be what happens tomorrow morning?”
Todd’s words triggered a backlash on Twitter, where some called for him to be fired. But others argued that the NBC host had simply asked a question.
“Chuck Todd is a center-right Republican, fascism enabler masquerading as a serious journalist,” Murshed Zaheed wrote. “He is an embarrassment to @NBCPolitics.”
“Chuck Todd is a fucking disgrace,” Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko chimed in.
“Completely fucking insane and predictable,” Matt Negrin opined.