Bob Schieffer: Time to move on from the ‘weirdest, strangest, nastiest’ campaign

Veteran newsman Bob Schieffer has covered a lot of presidential campaigns.

But nothing was quite like what he saw this year, as Republican Donald Trump battled his way to victory.

“I said before the election that I thought it was the worst campaign of my lifetime,” Schieffer told a crowd of more than 100 packed into a lecture hall at Texas Christian University Tuesday night. “I would add to that that it’s the weirdest, strangest, nastiest, most meaningless” election.

Schieffer, the veteran CBS newsman and host of Face the Nation who began his journalism career as a reporter for the Star-Telegram, retired last year but was very vocal about his year’s fierce presidential election.

At times this year, even after the election, he said he was amazed at the political developments.

He was surprised when, after talk about a recount in several states grew, Trump began making claims that millions of people voted illegally.

“If a guy slides into home and the umpire says, ‘safe,’ you don’t hop up and say, ‘No, I’m even safer than you think I am,’” Schieffer said.

Schieffer — who has covered 14 presidential elections during his career and interviewed every president since Richard Nixon — said this year’s election was not a campaign about facts.

“It was a campaign about attitudes,” he said, recalling times he spoke with voters who said they liked Trump because he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.

“He was reflecting the frustration that they felt,” Schieffer said. “I think a lot of the time, those of us in the media took what he said literally but didn’t take him seriously. ... He reached people who thought no one was speaking to them.”

But now the election is over.

And in this era of “fake” news and growing distrust in the mainstream media, Schieffer said the country must move forward.

He encouraged TCU students to consider getting involved in politics, and running for office, to broaden the future candidate pool.

He said he’s not sure who the Democratic presidential front-runner candidate might be in four years. At the same time, “I don’t know who follows Trump if he doesn’t seek re-election,” he said. “I think both parties are pretty much depleted.”

But now, Schieffer said, isn’t the time for political strategy.

It’s time to heal the country.

“This election laid bare how deeply divided we are in this country,” he said. “We should now have a better understanding of just how deeply divided the country is ... over taxes, race, generations, neighborhoods.

“I think we have a lot of listening to do,” he said. “More took place here than just an election.”

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This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Bob Schieffer: Time to move on from the ‘weirdest, strangest, nastiest’ campaign."