The post has been deleted, but the controversy has reached a full boil.
ABC News veteran correspondent Terry Moran, who interviewed President Donald Trump in April, has been suspended by the network following a post in which he gave his assessment of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, as well as Trump, saying they are “world-class haters.”
In a post at 12:08 a.m. Sunday, Moran wrote:
The thing about Stephen Miller is not that he is the brains behind Trumpism.
Yes, he is one of the people who conceptualizes the impulses of the Trumpist movement and translates them into policy.
But that’s not what’s interesting about Miller.
It’s not brains. It’s bile.
Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater.
You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.
Trump is a world-class hater. But his hatred (is) only a means to an end, and that end is his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.
The post was deleted but still went viral, with conservatives blasting Moran and calling on ABC to punish him. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted a screengrab of Moran’s post and wrote, “Last night, in a since deleted post, so-called ‘journalist’ @TerryMoran went on a rampage against Stephen Miller and called President Trump ‘a world class hater.’ This is unhinged and unacceptable. We have reached out to @ABC to inquire about how they plan to hold Terry accountable.”
She said essentially the same during an interview Sunday morning on Fox, calling for Moran to be suspended or fired.
Later on Sunday, Moran was suspended.
In a statement, ABC News said, “ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others. The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation.”
This all happened while Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, where there are protests over Trump’s immigration sweeps. The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum noted, “Mr. Miller, who is among Mr. Trump’s most powerful aides, is considered the mastermind of the administration’s crackdown on immigration. He has spoken extensively in recent days in defense of federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and denounced the demonstrators who have protested the government’s actions.”
Moran’s official title at ABC News is senior national correspondent. He has been with the network since 1997. As mentioned earlier, Moran interviewed Trump in April and, at one point during that interview, Trump said, “Terry, they’re giving you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you are doing the interview. I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you, but that’s OK.”
Moran was praised in many circles for speaking out against Miller, claiming that what Moran said about Miller is true. And many criticized ABC News for punishing Moran for simply expressing his view on Miller and Trump. In other words, many of Moran’s supporters claim he was simply exercising his free speech, and that the network gave in to pressure from the Trump administration.
On the other hand, many felt Moran had crossed the line of being an objective journalist.
Podcaster and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly tweeted, “Any actual news organization would fire him this minute.”
Vice President JD Vance posted that Moran’s tweet was a “vile smear” and added, “It’s dripping with hatred. Remember that every time you watch ABC’s coverage of the Trump administration.”
And that is the issue at hand.
Whether or not you feel as if what Moran wrote was true, and whether or not you believe Moran has the right to express his thoughts, his post will undoubtedly be used by the right to accuse, once again, the media of bias. In fact, Vance and Kelly are already jumping on it, as are countless others.
Miller himself posted, “The most important fact about Terry’s full public meltdown is what it shows about the corporate press in America. For decades, the privileged anchors and reporters narrating and gatekeeping our society have been radicals adopting a journalist’s pose. Terry pulled off his mask.”
Conservatives will now use Moran’s post to say, “See, the media cannot be trusted. They hate us. This proves it.”
Veteran journalist Chuck Todd responded to Miller’s tweet with a smart take: “Nothing lazier or more transparently dishonest than to take one person’s deleted tweet and try to apply the sentiment to an entire group of folks. Ask yourself why he wants to slime any journalist for the sins of one? It’s intentionally dishonest and intentionally divisive.”
Todd is 100% correct, but unfortunately, Miller’s target audience doesn’t see it that way. It will easily swallow Miller’s lazy and dishonest opinion. Todd is right when he calls Miller’s take “intentionally dishonest and intentionally divisive,” but it doesn’t take much to trigger such divisiveness. Maybe that’s something Moran should have considered before hitting send on his tweet.
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Mehdi Hasan turned his attention to those on the right calling for Moran to be punished, tweeting, “Snowflakes. Pretend free speech warriors. Getting journalists suspended and calling for their firing. Hypocrites.”
Did Moran have a right to say what he said? I could argue, yes. Maybe he felt as if he couldn’t bite his tongue any longer and had a duty to speak out. But the real key is maybe what he tweeted was real insight to those he covers and knows well. Maybe it shouldn’t be seen as a criticism, but an explanation, an assessment, putting the behavior and actions of two public figures into context.
Was it an accurate take? Many would say yes, and would add that not only was it accurate, but necessary.
Should Moran have posted it? Or maybe a better question is: Was it worth it? Let’s put it this way: In the end, this tweet did some damage. Moran’s late-night post will be a headache for ABC News. That pain will be felt by other media, too. That is a fact, even if you agree with everything Moran did and said.
