A Jan. 17 CNSNews.com article by Melanie Arter provided the marching orders: “The White House on Wednesday said President Donald Trump does not want a government shutdown, and if the government does shut down on Friday because Congress can’t agree on a budget deal, the Democrats are to blame.”
Like a good pro-Trump stenographer, CNS knew it had a script to follow, and it gleefully did so. Let the Dem-blaming stenography begin:
- Trump: ‘A Government Shutdown Will Be Devastating to Our Military’
- Congresswoman: Dems ‘D*cking Around’ on Immigration, ‘Holding Our Troops Hostage’
- Ryan: ‘Unconscionable’ for Democrats to Put DACA Deal Ahead of CHIP Funding, Military Funding
- Trump: Dems Want a Shutdown to Get Focus Off Trump’s Tax Cuts
- Trump WH: We’re Not Going to Politicize a Shutdown the Way Obama Did
- WH Budget Director: OMB Preparing for ‘The Schumer Shutdown’
CNS did go off script with one article, though (albeit banished to a blog post), in which Michael Morris gave Ben Shapiro space to rant that Trump tweeting that it was a bad idea to put CHIP funding in the continuing resolution undermined the entire Republican strategy to blame the shutdown on the Dems.
Interestingly, that is not the take CNS’ “news” side. In her article referencing it, Susan Jones merely said Trump’s tweet caused “confusion” and credulously quoted Paul Ryan trying to spin it:
Ryan said he spoke with President Trump this morning, and “he fully supports passing what we’re bringing to the floor.”
Earlier, there was some confusion about that, when Trump tweeted on Thursday morning that the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) “should be part of a long-term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!”
Republicans added a six-year CHIP reauthorization to the CR in hopes of attracting enough Democrat votes to pass the short-term funding bill.
“Yeah, the president does understand CHIP,” Ryan told a reporter who asked if Trump did understand it.
Once again, we see that CNS’ purported “news” reporters are too busy being stenographers to do any actual reporting.