Intern Isaac White continued the Media Research Center’s Trump Regime Media narrative on the government shutdown in an Oct. 6 post:
Monday’s Morning Joe brought MSNBC viewers a confounding explanation for the ongoing government shutdown by creating a political paradox: Republicans were completely at fault, but Democrats were preventing the shutdown from ending.
NBC News national affairs analyst John Heilemann laid out the first component of the paradox:
[…]Johnson did not, as Heilemann contended, rearrange the playing field to place Republicans in a more favorable light. The Continuing Resolution passed by the House was practically identical to the most recent CR passed in March, and was thus “clean.”
Accurately defining terms in order to win an argument wasn’t losing. Twisting the truth when you couldn’t win based on facts was a sign of losing.
[…]This shutdown was one of, if not the only, area where Democrats had been able to successfully resist Republicans during Trump’s second term. Democrats had lamented the thousands of federal workers who were going without pay, yet refused to back down on partisan tactics.
This is the crux of the paradox: Republicans, since they were the majority party across all three branches, should not be allowing the shutdown to happen; but Democrats shouldn’t back down!
It’s hard to make those two points square without ignoring reality. And in Heilemann’s own words, “But the reality is they don’t want, really, to fund this government.”
Alex Christy played comedy cop in an Oct. 7 post:
An exasperated Jon Stewart condemned Republicans on Monday’s episode of The Daily Show on Comedy Central for not folding to Democratic demands to end the government shutdown because, in his mind, Democrats simply oppose people dying.
Stewart teed up a clip of ABC White House correspondent Rachel Scott by insisting Democrats are not demanding much, “Now, as you’ll recall, the shutdown began because in order to pass a budget bill in the Senate, you need 60 votes. As the Founders never mentioned. And so, Democrats have come forth with a laundry list of demands to force the Republicans—I’m just kidding—they want, like, two things.”
In the video, Scott claimed Democrats are “demanding that Republicans reverse cuts to Medicaid and extend expiring Obamacare subsidies to prevent insurance premiums from rising for some 20 million Americans.”
A sarcastic Stewart reacted, “Those bastards,” before adding, “It’s like they don’t even want people to die of generally preventable disease.”
Stewart never did mention that the expanded subsidies were a Biden-era program that removed the cap on recipients making more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level and were meant to be a temporary COVID relief measure.
Instead, Stewart attacked Republicans for allegedly being sore winners.
Christy stayed on partisan comedy patrol the next day:
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel found a strange, new respect for Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a woman he has frequently dubbed “Klan Mom,” on his Tuesday show as he claimed a recent tweet from Greene proved his point that Republicans are lying about health care amid the government shutdown.
Kimmel claimed, “The reason the Democrats refuse to sign this budget agreement is because it will cause millions of Americans to lose their health care. Republicans deny this.”
However, Kimmel used Greene to say Republicans are liars:
[…]What Greene omitted and Kimmel continues to omit is that the Obamacare subsidies being discussed removed the cap that limited recipients to those making 400 percent of the federal poverty level for what was supposed to be a temporary COVID relief measure. That means that even if the subsidies were to expire, a family of two making $84,600 could still be eligible.
Christy’s comedy-cop routine continued in an Oct. 9 post:
NBC’s Seth Meyers devoted Wednesday’s “Closer Look” segment on Late Night to how the government shutdown has affected air traffic control. At the end, Meyers blamed Republicans for not caving to Democrats’ demands on extending the Biden-era Obamacare subsidies.
Meyers introduced a pair of clips by bringing back his favorite tradition: praising Sen. Bernie Sanders, “As a reminder, this shutdown is happening because of health care. Premiums are about to skyrocket. Democrats just want to extend the subsidies that will prevent that from happening. Republicans admit it’s a problem and claim they’ll negotiate after the government reopens. But Senator Bernie Sanders isn’t so sure.”
[…]Throughout this shutdown, the liberal comedians have dutifully stood behind Democratic efforts to extend the Obamacare subsidies, but not once has any of them pointed out that these were meant to be a temporary COVID relief measure. Nor has anyone referenced that the Biden-era program removed the original cap that limited recipients to those who make 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
Of course, Republicans could negotiate with Democrats over the amount of the subsidies, but they have refused to do so. Christy didn’t mention that.