Republicans Desperately Trying To Shift Shutdown Blame On Sunday Shows
We watch so you never have to!
The party blamed at the beginning of a shutdown always takes the blame at the end. That’s what they say. With most polls showing the American people are blaming Republicans for our current shutdown, the GOP is scrambling to both change that and distract from it.
Let’s see how they did on the Sunday shows!
Mike Johnson, Little Man
For an attorney, Speaker Mike Johnson is terrible at making convincing arguments. On CBS’s Face The Nation, Johnson continued to fail in Margaret Brennan’s direction:
Johnson tried to jab at Democrats. It didn’t work.
BRENNAN: House Speaker Mike Johnson joins us from Capitol Hill. Good morning to you, Speaker. Anyone up there to negotiate with?
JOHNSON: There’s not, Margaret. Good morning. Good to hear your voice. It’s kind of quiet around here. It has been for the last several days, and it’s very unfortunate, […] I pray that more Democrats in the Senate will come to their senses and do the right thing, and when they have the next opportunity on Monday to vote to open the government, I surely hope that they will.
BRENNAN: Well, you did send your lawmakers home to their districts, which suggests we’ve got probably another week ahead of us of this shutdown.
Oops. Kinda hard to decry the Dems refusing to come to solve this when you sent all your members home.
Brennan then reminded Johnson that Democratic leadership’s simple request was to have another conversation regarding extending some tax subsidies that lower the cost of some healthcare purchased through Obamacare. Johnson tried to claim he was ready to talk about those subsidies and negotiate on all that, so long as the Dems just end the shutdown.
But when Brennan attempted to get a firm commitment on those promises, Johnson revealed he could not be trusted.
BRENNAN: But just to clarify what you were just saying, do I hear you correctly? That you, as speaker of the House, want to see the tax credit extended at a future date? Is that what you are saying?
JOHNSON: No, I haven’t staked out any position on it yet, because that’s not how this process works. We’re in a deliberative body--
BRENNAN:-- Right, I’m asking your position because you said--
JOHNSON:-- I’m the speaker of the House--
BRENNAN:-- you’d be willing to talk about it--
JOHNSON:-- I’m telling you my position- I’m the Speaker of the House. What I have to do is draw consensus among 435 members of my body. I don’t get out and project what the final conclusion is going to be.
We can’t imagine why the Democratic leadership won’t take Mike Johnson at his word with such strong assurances.
Johnson, after failing to blame the shutdown on Democrats, then shifted to try to lie about why the shutdown is happening. But his attempt to blame immigrants ran into that pesky obstacle of facts when Brennan fact-checked again.
JOHNSON: They [Democrats] want to spend $1.5 trillion, and they want to return hard-working taxpayer dollars to fund health care for illegal aliens. It is in their bill. […]
BRENNAN: Well, that- I have looked at that text, it doesn’t explicitly say what you are indicating--
JOHNSON:-- Well, wait a minute--
BRENNAN: -- But unauthorized immigrants aren’t eligible for ACA benefits--
JOHNSON: -- This is very important. Yes it does.
It doesn’t. Look, Wonkette recently published an article explaining all the ways Republicans are lying about this!
On NBC’s Meet The Press, Johnson tried to feign concern to Kristen Welker about people affected by the shutdown.
JOHNSON: Russ Vought runs [OMB]. He has to now look at all of the federal government […] and determine what are essential programs, policies, and personnel. That’s not a job that he relishes.
That argument is undone by Trump sharing AI meme videos of Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper or sombreros on Hakeem Jeffries.
He also tried the undocumented people getting Medicare/Medicaid lie:
JOHNSON: It [Democratic proposal] will spend $200 billion of hard-working taxpayer funds to pay for health care for illegals. We’re not doing it.
WELKER: Yeah, but what you reference refers to lawfully present people who are here, immigrants, DACA recipients. Let me move on.
JOHNSON: No.
WELKER: Because we are running out of time though. I want to move on.
He’s just lying, because he’s a liar.
John Thune, Big Man (Just Kidding, Also Little Man)
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota was on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, trying to sound tough.
THUNE: Open up the government or else. I mean, that’s really the choice that’s in front of [Democrats] right now.
Or else what? You’ll run roughshod over our government and perform unconstitutional actions? You’ll illegally fire massive amounts of workers? Rescind legally appropriated funding? Republicans were already doing that BEFORE the shutdown.
Thune’s ultimatums would have more weight if Republicans weren’t already governing like a fascist dictatorship that will never lose power.
Have a week.
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I went to The Groceries this weekend. They were NOT cheaper.
Not entirely OT
"Trump told reporters earlier on Sunday that troop deployments were needed because "Portland is burning to the ground," a claim local officials reject.
- Axios
That's some top-notch reporting right there.
Republicans say it's raining, Democrats say it's sunny, and we refuse to look out the window to tell you who's right.