A Very 'Citations Needed' Sunday Shows Rundown

We watch so you never have to.

A famous failed screenwriter and loudmouthed bigot once said, “facts don’t care about your feelings.”

The Sunday shows were full of MAGA people we can say that to!

Let’s take a look.

Mike Johnson

The perpetually smug seditionist House speaker went on NBC’s “Meet The Press” to sell his deficit-increasing budget bill to host Kristen Welker (and by extension, the viewers).

After Welker asked how he got his GOP colleagues on board with a bill that does immense harm (to themselves politically, let’s not kid ourselves they care about the people), Johnson gave a long rambling answer about texting Elon Musk and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring.

But it was the invocation of the CBO that would end up tripping Johnson up.

WELKER: Well, it is worth noting that some budget experts say that in 2017 actually the CBO was pretty right when you adjusted for inflation. But let me read you something that you said back in 2021 about the CBO. This was in relation to a Democratic bill. You said, "The CBO has confirmed this bill adds nearly $400 billion to the deficit, contrary to the White House's claim that the bill is paid for."

So do you only believe the CBO when a Democrat is president, Mr. Speaker?

Johnson, ever the shameless liar, did not hesitate to find an excuse.

JOHNSON: No. This is very easy to explain. The CBO sometimes gets projections correct.

Funny how Johnson admits the premise of Welker’s question but tries to pose it as a rebuttal. It’s like trying to soften bad news and failing.

The CBO being “coincidentally” correct when Dems are in charge gives away the hypocrisy.

But Welker cited additional sources, to which Johnson’s only retort was a long version of “nuh uh.”

WELKER: Mr. Speaker, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the Tax Foundation, the Penn Wharton Budget Model all say this will add trillions of dollars to the deficit. Are you really telling the American people this will not add one penny to the debt and deficit? You can guarantee that?

JOHNSON: I — I am telling you, this is going to reduce the deficit. I mean, you cite some of these figures. Do you know what their economic growth projections are? The Committee for a Responsible Budgeting, they’re not even — I don't think they're assuming any economic growth. I mean, that's not realistic. A lot of these groups use what they call static scoring and not dynamic scoring. Dynamic scoring, in layman's terms, is reality.

Never take “trust me, bro” as a valid source…and especially from habitual liars like Mike Johnson.

Scott Bessent

Treasury Secretary and modern day “Les Misérables” villain Scott Bessent was on CBS’s “Face The Nation” trying to also sell the same bill to Margaret Brennan.

But his cited source was even more dubious than Mike Johnson’ sources, because his source was Mike Johnson.

BRENNAN: You know that the speaker of the House estimates this is going to add four to five trillion dollars over the next 10 years, and there's that debt limit increase.

BESSENT: Well again, Margaret, that's CBO scoring.

BRENNAN: That's the Speaker of the House.

BESSENT: No, no, no.

BRENNAN: He said it last Sunday on this program.

BESSENT: The- he said that's the CBO scoring. Let me--

BRENNAN: --No, he said that sounds right.

Brennan is right, and Johnson did say that last week. We covered the cuts, and Johnson hadn’t fully developed the lies he’s telling this week.

But Bessent, like the rest of the GOP, is citing others’ bullshit, which contradicts factual sources. The GOP has become the Spider-Man pointing meme in real time.

And somehow less shameful than citing “Ron Vara.”

Marty Makary

Speaking of dubious citations and contradictions, FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary was also on “Face The Nation.”

Brennan asked Makary if he could clarify the contradictory guidance on COVID vaccines. Apparently, after announcing with brainwormed HHS Secretary RFK Jr. that the CDC was removing healthy children and healthy pregnant women from its recommended COVID vax immunization schedule, Makary then sent a memo to the CDC to ignore that. Then the CDC said last Thursday that "shared clinical decision-making" should determine whether kids get vaccinated.

Brennan pushed Makary on all this seemingly conflicting messaging, and he cited sources even more dubious than Johnson or Bessent.

MAKARY: I don't know if you know the statistics, but […] 88 percent of American kids, their parents, have said no to the COVID shot last season. So America, the vast majority Americans, are saying no. Maybe they want to see some clinical data as well. Maybe they have concerns about the safety--

This is like every antivax crank who cites the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) as a source, when it’s essentially as meaningful as an audience review on Rotten Tomatoes. Anyone can write anything there, verified or not, which Brennan pointed out.

BRENNAN: I don't want to crowdsource my health guidance. I want a clear thing.[…] I wouldn't go with popularity.

Makary then tried to say, “Let’s see the data,” only for Brennan to immediately provide some.

BRENNAN: Okay. So the CDC data said 41% of children aged six months to 17 years hospitalized with COVID between 2022 and 2024 did not have a known underlying condition. In other words, they looked healthy, and COVID was serious for them.

Makary retorted by saying the data was contaminated and the experts who determined vaccine safety, as far back as 1964, were “kangaroo courts.” Makary then promoted his own bullshit as “evidence,” before Brennan called it out.

MAKARY: I've written an article titled "Why the people don't trust the CDC," and it's in part from that blanket strategy …

BRENNAN: You're telling them not to right now. You just said don't trust the CDC.

The GOP does this to every government agency, then runs on “fixing” it.

Makary again asked for clinical data, only for Brennan to provide it and Makary to minimize it or ignore it because it contradicts his feelings.

By the end, Brennan was left to shake her head.

As are we.

Have a week.

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