Cable news recap: What did they say on Fox, CNN and MSNBC?

On Wednesday night, Tammy Bruce discussed major crime in Democrat-run cities, Gary Tuchman spoke to an Iowa focus group about their thoughts on the Republican presidential debate and Lawrence O’Donnell spoke about former President Donald Trump’s pending mug shot.

Fox News — The ‘Democratic playbook’ on crime

Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce hosted “Hannity” on Wednesday night and spoke to Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell and fellow contributor Leo Terrell about the crime crisis in major U.S. cities.

“With the left hyperfocused on Donald Trump’s pending criminal cases, they are completely ignoring the serious crimes taking place in cities every day across the country,” Bruce said.

Bruce then criticized Democrats for their “soft-crime” policies like no cash bail, reducing crime sentences from felonies to misdemeanors, and making it so minors are not allowed to be charged for certain crimes, resulting in gangs using minors to perform crimes.

Caldwell said that “police are feeling demoralized in cities all across America because of these soft-on crime prosecutors who are refusing to do their one job, enforce the law.”

Bruce asked Terrell what he thought about crime being seen as reparation during the George Floyd protests and if that’s what Democrats believe is now the new normal for fairness.

“You’re exactly right,” Terell said. “This is the Democratic playbook, they’re going to continue this playbook until we put someone in office like Donald J. Trump.”

CNN — What did Republicans think of the debate?

CNN’s Gary Tuchman spoke to a group of Republican voters Wednesday night, following the first Republican presidential debate, to see which candidate they thought won.

Out of the 15 Iowans in the focus group, only two thought the debate was not a good look for the Republican Party, and only one was ready to vote for Trump, while the remaining 14 were still undecided.

Tuchman then asked the group to vote on which candidate they thought performed the best:

• Ron DeSantis: 2.

• Nikki Haley: 4.

• Vivek Ramaswamy: 7.

Two people chose not to vote.

“This panel here thinks Ramaswamy won the debate,” Tuchman said. “Tell me why you think he won the debate?”

One of the younger members of the focus group said he liked what Ramaswamy said about national identity.

He said Ramaswamy understands that national identity is a generational issue.

“People my age don't really love America, and if you don’t love it, you can’t protect it. And I think if we fix that problem, people will, as a natural byproduct, want to protect America and what it stands for,” the group member said.

When asked if Trump not attending the debate hurt his chance for reelection, only four group members raised their hands.

Related

• With Trump absent, Ramaswamy faces the brunt of attacks during first GOP debate

MSNBC — Donald Trump’s mugshot ‘will be in history books’

On “The Last Word,” Lawrence O’Donnell began by showing Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s mugshot after Giuliani surrendered to Georgia authorities on Wednesday.

“Rudolph Giuliani’s status of having the most famous mugshot in America will last only a day” because Trump plans to surrender Thursday, O’Donnell said.

He added that Trump’s mugshot will be so famous it will likely be on the cover of every newspaper worldwide on Friday.

“Donald Trump’s mugshot will be in history books, it will become the most widely seen single photograph of Donald Trump’s entire life. Possibly the most widely seen photograph of any American president in history,” O’Donnell said.

The mugshot of Trump is what O’Donnell believes will define the former president’s life and time in office.

“Surrender is the word, the legal word for what Donald Trump will do tomorrow,” he said.

As of Wednesday night, O’Donnell said seven of Trump's co-defendants surrendered in the election subversion case.