Television journalists, especially during moments of big breaking news, often fall into a pit of hyperbole.

When CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell took the air Sunday, she said, “It has been a wild few weeks.” She then said we experienced a “political earthquake” on Sunday.

Other networks used words such as “explosive” and “bombshell” and “historically chaotic.”

None of that was hyperbolic. None of it.

Somehow “wild” doesn’t even begin to cover it. “Political earthquake” is quite apropos. Everything we’ve seen in recent weeks has been explosive and a bombshell and historically chaotic.

It started with the presidential debate on June 27 when President Joe Biden gave such a feeble performance that it begged a seemingly unthinkable question: Should he step away from the presidential race?

Then came the horrific shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania just nine days ago. That was followed by a rollercoaster and newsy Republican National Convention that started well but ended with a meandering, unfocused and historically long speech by Trump. Then Biden tested positive for COVID-19.

Throughout all of this was a growing chorus of calls, and defiant pushback, that Biden should not run for president.

Could the news cycle churn any faster? Yes, it turned out.

On Sunday, Joe Biden announced he would not run for president.

Wild, indeed.

The news, analysis and commentary came fast and furious on Sunday, as soon as Biden made his announcement at 1:46 p.m. Eastern time.

So, on this chaotic day on top of the wild few weeks and what surely sets off an unprecedented next four months, we look back at how the media covered Sunday’s news and we remember this comment from Fox News’ Dana Perino: “The politics in the next four weeks is going to be absolutely insane.”

Four weeks? Try four months. Maybe even four years. And “absolutely insane” sounds just about right.

X marks the spot

For as much as X — the artist formerly known as Twitter — has changed and evolved (some say devolved) over the past couple of years, it still matters. That’s where Biden made his announcement.

In a lengthy letter posted on X, Biden wrote, in part, “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term. I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”

Then Biden put out another statement on X to throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, writing, “My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

Breaking news

Even though the news that Biden would drop out was not totally unexpected, major network and cable news networks had to scramble to cover the story.

As best as I could tell, MSNBC and Fox News were the first networks to break the news on air. What was especially notable was that the news was broken on MSNBC by Jen Psaki, Biden’s former press secretary.

Psaki said, “Obviously, this is a significant breaking news development, with the president announcing he is stepping back from the race. There’s very little indication from people close to him and many people in the campaign that this was about to happen, as much as there were reports of Democrats calling on him to do that.”

About Psaki, The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum wrote, “She read his statement aloud from her iPhone, staring down at the device as the camera held steady. Ms. Psaki kept her cool, although she sounded slightly emotional minutes later, conceding to viewers, ‘I am just digesting this myself.’”

Psaki praised Biden’s presidency on air and then added, “He’s a very decently good human being. And the sort of light chip on his shoulder he has that everybody who knows him or has worked with him, as I have, knows he has, also helps them connect deeply with people. So everybody I’ve talked to had this — some felt relief, some felt anger because they loved him, and they didn’t want him to step back. There was a sadness, a shock.”

(Psaki wrote this for MSNBC: “Joe Biden’s incredibly selfless career has led to this historic moment.”)

MSNBC’s coverage was superb, with the network quickly bringing in some of its top voices by phone or video, including “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, who had been very vocal about Biden stepping away, and Rachel Maddow, as well as commentators such as Claire McCaskill.

On air, Maddow said, “The Republican Party was very, very, very happy to have Donald Trump running against Joe Biden. That’s why they were so quiet about Joe Biden and about this whole fight within the Democratic Party about his fitness and his age and all these other things. They were just crossing their fingers, hoping that President Biden would stay in because they thought they had it in the bag if they were going to run against him in November. And now their plans are completely scrambled. I think we’ll hear a lot of different messaging from the Republican side, but this is a bad day for the Donald Trump campaign. … This is a day of mad scrambling on the Republican side.”

Scrambling

Speaking of scrambling to cover the news, at least initially, the networks were flying by the seat of their pants, even though, as I mentioned, this news could not have been totally unexpected. There were several reports, in fact, that Biden could make a decision to withdraw from the race over the weekend.

The Associated Press’ David Bauder wrote, “News shows on cable, particularly when covering live events or breaking news, rely on video from a scene and its aftermath to provide the all-important connecting thread between talking heads and anchor updates. With no video Sunday other than ‘b-roll,’ or old footage of Biden, news channels had to turn elsewhere. But they even had to scramble to find people who could talk about it at all. CBS’ White House correspondent, Ed Keefe, sounded out of breath when he was reached on the phone.”

Sunday is typically a day when the main anchors are off and, as Bauder pointed out, the breaking news thrust weekend anchors such as Rachel Scott (ABC), Kristine Johnson (CBS) and Hallie Jackson (NBC) into the spotlight. All performed well until other anchors could get into place.

CNN on top of its game

CNN’s strength is breaking news, and the network rose to the challenge Sunday. CNN has the outstanding ability to corral its resources and top commentators to deliver excellent breaking news and commentary.

Kaitlan Collins continued to prove how valuable she is by smoothly anchoring much of CNN’s early coverage until the network’s go-to guy, Wolf Blitzer, could get to the studio and suit up.

That’s when CNN, through rotating and ever-changing panels, did what it does best: offer solid commentary with voices such as Van Jones, Abby Phillip, Karen Finney, Kristen Soltis Anderson and many others.

For example, Finney noted how Trump might be nervous about debating Harris, while Anderson pointed out that Republicans might want to continue keeping Biden’s name in the news with calls for him to resign the presidency. (Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, did just that on Sunday.)

David Axelrod said that he was on a plane when he heard the news, adding, “I was very sad, honestly. I think it was necessary. It’s an incredibly important and difficult decision that he made for the country. But not the final chapter he imagined and not maybe the final chapter he deserved.”

About stepping down so that the Democrats might have a better chance of beating Trump, Axelrod said, “In that regard, the party took a step forward today, and the president recognized it and did the hardest thing you can do and stepped aside.”

CNN, and really all the networks, did a superb job securing interviews from across the spectrum, including the likes of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, among many others. All in all, the networks delivered good coverage.

The major networks

A promo for Sunday night’s special ABC News Coverage. (Courtesy: ABC News)

It was kind of an odd day over at NBC. It was a rare Sunday when it didn’t have its signature Sunday morning news program, “Meet the Press.” That’s because of the network’s coverage of golf’s Open Championship from Scotland.

The Biden news broke just as the Open Championship was coming to a close, and the network immediately broke in to report the news. Eventually, however, NBC did go back to its regularly scheduled programming for the afternoon, which was a NASCAR race.

However, it should be noted that NBC does have its own cable news network, of course: MSNBC, which was on top of the story.

CBS was supposed to be airing LPGA golf. ABC was scheduled to air a flag football tournament but stuck with the Biden news instead.

During the afternoon, CBS News’ coverage was led by “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan, with Robert Costa at the desk, too. CBS also smartly leaned on John Dickerson, who noted that the more Democrats celebrate Biden giving up power, “the more of a contrast they draw to Donald Trump.”

Dickerson added, “That’s quite a contrast to Donald Trump, who was so desirous to hang on to power that, according to the leaders in his own party, he inspired an attack on the Capitol.”

All three of the main network evening news anchors were on the job Sunday. Aside from O’Donnell anchoring the afternoon coverage, David Muir anchored the “ABC World News Tonight” and Lester Holt anchored the “NBC Nightly News.”

In addition, all three major networks had special coverage beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern time, with CBS preempting “60 Minutes.” NBC cut into “American Ninja Warrior,” while ABC preempted “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” ABC and NBC had two-hour specials from 7 to 9 p.m. Eastern, while CBS aired its special from 7 to 8 p.m. The big anchors — Holt, Brennan and Muir — were in the lead anchor chairs.

NBC smartly called upon Chuck Todd to lend his perspective, and Todd turned in his usual smart analysis, including who might make Harris’ best running mate, assuming she is the nominee. (Todd thought the VP candidate the GOP might fear is Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.) Todd also talked about the issues that this race will now focus on if it’s Harris: the border and abortion. In fact, it is Kelly’s border experience and stance that might make him a good VP pick. Smart stuff from Todd.

Blaring headlines

Some of the big — as in BIG type — headlines right after the announcement included:

• The New York Times: “BIDEN DROPS OUT AND BACKS HARRIS”
• The Washington Post: “BIDEN STEPS ASIDE”
• CNN: “BIDEN EXITS RACE, ENDORSES HARRIS AS NOMINEE”
• Los Angeles Times: “BIDEN DROPS OUT”
• The Associated Press: “BIDEN DROPS OUT OF 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE”

That’s not debatable

For now, it looks like Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to back out of the scheduled presidential debate on Sept. 10 on ABC. Trump and Biden had agreed to two debates, but now Trump says on his Truth Social that the debate should be on Fox News — a network, by the way, that Trump has frequently criticized but still seems very much pro-Trump.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, “My debate with Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the history of the United States, was slated to be broadcast on Fake News ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus, sometime in September. Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC. Thank you! DJT.”

However, Trump adviser Jason Miller told NBC News’ Lester Holt, “There’s definitely going to be another debate or, I guess in this case, a first debate against whoever the Democrats end up choosing.”

Good hustle

CBS News’ Robert Costa was the first reporter to get comments from Donald Trump. After a phone conversation, Costa reported that Trump said it was a shock for the country and for the good of the country. He also suggested Biden was forced out by his own party.

As far as a possible debate, Costa reported that Trump told him, “I don’t know who I’m going to debate. So far, we haven’t determined who is going to be on that side.  But I think whoever it is, I’d like to debate. Yeah, sure.”

Costa’s reporting all day, while also being on the air giving analysis, was as good as anything on TV.

At one point, CBS’s Margaret Brennan, while talking about Harris being the possible nominee, said, “A woman at the top of the ticket will take slings and arrows that male candidate won’t. That’s just a fact, and we know it.”

Costa said, “What’s on the horizon now is political war. It is going to be rougher than anything we’ve seen.”

A superb cover from Time magazine:

(Courtesy: Time)

Speaking of Trump

While he couldn’t have been completely shocked by Sunday’s news, it would appear that Trump was not happy about it.

A day ago, one of Trump’s strongest arguments in this race was that Biden was too old to be president. Now that argument might be his greatest weakness, as Democrats are likely to push the narrative that, say, the 59-year-old Harris is a better candidate than the 78-year-old Trump.

Maddow said on MSNBC, “The old man in the race now is Donald Trump.”

Trump seemed to show some cracks on his Truth Social on Sunday night, complaining that Biden was dropping out by writing, “So, we are forced to spend time and money on fighting Crooked Joe Biden, he polls badly after having a terrible debate, and quits the race. Now we have to start all over again.”

Other notable coverage

• The New York Times editorial board was quick: “Biden Made a Courageous Choice. Democrats Must Seize the Opportunity.” The board wrote, “Mr. Biden has now done what Mr. Trump never will: He has placed the national interest above his own pride and ambition.” It added that Harris offers a “reasonable path” for Democrats to take, but did say, “Nonetheless, party delegates should have a voice in a decision of this consequence. There are other qualified Democrats who could take on Mr. Trump and win, and picking a candidate without a real contest is how the party got into a position of anointing a standard-bearer that large majorities of Democrats and independents had profound concerns about. While the hour is late, there is still time to put leading candidates through a process of public scrutiny before the party’s nominating convention begins on Aug. 19, to inform the choice of a nominee and to build public support.”
• The Washington Post’s Michael Scherer, Tyler Pager, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker and Yasmeen Abutaleb with “Biden dropped out. This is how it happened.”
• The New York Times’ Katie Rogers with “What Happened in the Final Moments as Biden Decided to Withdraw.”
• The Associated Press’ Colleen Long, Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller and Mary Clare Jalonick with “Biden’s decision to drop out crystalized Sunday. His staff knew one minute before the public did.”
• Politico’s Eli Stokols, Jonathan Lemire, Elena Schneider and Sarah Ferris with “Why Biden finally quit.”
• New York Times contributing opinion writer Frank Bruni with “What Joe Biden Just Did Is Utterly Extraordinary.”
• The Los Angeles Times with “This is Kamala Harris’ moment: Everything you need to know.”
• Louis Jacobson and Amy Sherman from Poynter’s PolitiFact with “Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed Kamala Harris. How do the Democrats choose a 2024 nominee now?”
• More from PolitiFact: Grace Abels and Louis Jacobson with “How unprecedented is it for President Joe Biden to drop out this late? Very.”

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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