The ABC has been accused of bias over airing a Four Corners episode suggesting Donald Trump is a threat to democracy just days after an assassination attempt.
The first of a two-part series on Trump titled ‘Retribution – the battle for democracy’ aired on Monday night hosted by journalist Mark Willacy, who travelled to the US for the program.
Trump, the 45th president of the US who is making another run at the White House this year, survived an attempt on his life on July 13 when a bullet grazed his ear at a campaign event in Pennsylvania where one rallygoer was killed and two wounded.
Despite the incident, the ABC aired the one hour-long program in which viewers are told by Willacy that if Trump is re-elected ‘the great American experiment in democracy could give way to a surge in political violence’.
‘In Donald Trump’s vision for America, centuries old institutions are there to be dismantled, and the checks and balances established by the founding fathers are impediments to absolute power,’ Willacy said.
The program warns viewers that Trump wants to ‘rebuild America in his own image’.
One viewer took to X after the program to declare it a ‘hit job’ from the ‘opening statement’ and said they switched it off.
Another said the tone of the program was along the lines of ‘Dictator, authoritarian, danger, end of democracy’ and slammed the taxpayer funded broadcaster saying it should ‘at least pretend to be impartial’.
Four Corners aired an episode calling Trump a threat to democracy just 48 hours after the Republican presidential candidate and former president was narrowly missed by a bullet which grazed his ear on Saturday
One person asked on X whether the ABC had ‘any intention of dropping’ the second part of the program ‘nobody asked for’ of ‘orange man bad’ given the assassination attempt.
‘I don’t think you need to stir the tolerant lefties up any further,’ they said.
Another person wrote that it was ‘an absolute disgrace that our national broadcaster is producing this garbage 48hrs after a failed assassination’.
The Four Corners Facebook page his disallowed comments on a post promoting the episode.
Central to the program is Project 2025 – a 900-page book drafted by conservatives containing policy proposals should Trump be re-elected.
Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025 – though some of his advisors are involved – but Four Corners insists it is a blueprint on how Trump intends to ‘reshape democracy’.
Among Project 2025’s stated aims is to ‘deconstruct the administrative state’ by, along with other measures, boosting the the number of political appointees to top bureaucratic roles, eliminating the Education Department and increasing the president’s authority over the Justice Department.
The Biden campaign has labelled Project 2025 ‘a threat to America’.
But Trump claimed on social media in early July: ‘I know nothing about Project 2025’.
Those interviewed on the Four Corners program include strong Trump critics such as John Bolton, a former Trump national security advisor who has written a book about his time in the White House in which he claims Trump is ‘unfit’ to be president.
Ex-CIA director Leon Panetta – who worked on the White House staff of the Clinton and Obama presidencies – is also interviewed, as is Anthony Scaramucci, who had a well-publicised feud with Trump after he was ousted as his communications director after 11 days.
The Four Corners program also features a clip of Trump recounting a conversation with a fellow NATO leader.
Trump said he was asked whether the US would still defend that country if it was attacked by Russia but did not meet the required quota of two per cent of GDP spent on NATO defence.
‘You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent? No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want… You got to pay your bills,’ Trump said.
Four Corners has previously been slapped on the wrist over a similar two-part report in 2021 titled ‘Fox and the Big Lie’ which looked at Fox News’ coverage of Trump’s presidency.
The n Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in response to a complaint by Fox found the Sarah Ferguson hosted program ‘omitted information… in a way that materially misled the audience.’
The ACMA found that report ‘came close to, but did not breach’ the impartiality standards in the code.
Trump has fronted the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee following the assassination attempt.
Lawmakers are alarmed at how the would-be-assassin was able to open fire from a rooftop within 150metres of the former president and want to know what additional security requests have been made by Trump’s campaign or protective team since November 2022.
President Joe Biden has also directed an independent review of the security at the rally.
The shooter was killed by Secret Service agents from Hawkeye, its rapid response team
Secret service agents surround Trump (left) after shots fired at a campaign rally on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania
The assassination attempt has forced Joe Biden’s campaign to dial down its attacks, with the US president admitting he was wrong to say his rival should be put in the ‘bullseye.’
But Biden has more broadly defended his rhetoric describing his Republican predecessor as a threat to democracy, and is signaling he will not hold back for long while criticizing the man he beat in 2020.
When Biden urged Americans to ‘lower the temperature’ in a rare Oval Office speech on Sunday after the Trump shooting, it seemed it could deprive him of his core attack line.
Just last week the 81-year-old had tried to pivot his campaign back on to his Republican rival, following weeks of turmoil in the Democratic Party over his age and health after a disastrous debate performance.
In the light of the Trump attack, Biden told broadcaster NBC on Monday that it was a ‘mistake’ to say in a call with donors a week ago ‘to put Trump in the bullseye’.
The Democrat said he was referring to how the party should ‘focus on what he’s doing’ instead of calling on him to quit after the disastrous debate.
Republicans have pointed to the bullseye comment in particular as they accuse Biden himself of contributing to the political conditions that led a shooter to try to kill Trump, ignoring their own candidate’s history of encouraging violence.