Monday morning ABC, NBC and CBS spent multiple reports blaming Trump for a possible government shutdown this Friday, while, at the same time, downplaying the likelihood of Republicans supporting the border funding and allowing this to happen. All three networks centered their reports around Democrat opposition to the border wall as a “moral” issue that the party couldn’t get behind. Yet when Republicans didn’t want to back Obamacare, the networks eviscerated the GOP at the time, for being obstinate and “hurting” the American people by threatening a government shutdown.
“The President could be celebrating his 100th day with a government shutdown,” correspondent Mary Bruce started her report on ABC’s Good Morning America. “The White House is hoping to avoid that but the President is driving a hard bargain, insisting on money to fund his border wall.” She added, “That of course, is a non-starter for Democrats.” Bruce ended her short report by noting that both parties agreed that a shutdown was “unlikely.”
On CBS This Morning, Nancy Cordes also touted the unlikelihood that Trump was going to get Republican or Democrat support for funding the border wall this year. “Even some Republicans are wondering if this really the time for that border wall funding fight, but the White House is adamant,” she began her report.
The CBS report then played soundbites from Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin condemning the wall, calling it a “political stunt” from the president. Cordes even touted Democrats’ faux-concern about properly using taxpayer money. (Since when has spending more of taxpayers’ money ever been a concern for Democrats?)
PELOSI: Building a wall is not an answer, not here or anyplace.
CORDES: Democrats in the House and Senate said Sunday they will not support a bill that includes funding for a Southern border wall.
SEN. DICK DURBIN: It's a political stunt, an obsession for the president that should not shut down our government.
CORDES: Democrats argue that President Trump's repeated campaign promise did not include a multi-billion-dollar bill for the American taxpayers.
NBC’s Today show also downplayed the likelihood of a government shutdown actually happening, despite mentioning the “looming deadline” Friday.
KRISTENWELKER: But Democrats taking a hard line against funding the wall.
NANCY PELOSI: The wall is, in my view, immoral, expensive, unwise.
WELKER: Some Republicans warning against letting the issue shutdown the government.
MARCO RUBIO: The last thing we can afford is to send a message to the world that the United States government, by the way, is only partially functioning.
ABC, CBS and NBC also made sure to harp on the U.S. being likely to pay for the wall instead of Mexico, as Trump had promised during his campaign.
All three networks also avoided blaming Democrats for refusing to come to a budget deal if it contained things they didn’t like.This was basically the opposite approach of what they did during the Obama years when a budget was struggling to be reached. At that time, the networks took pains to obsess over the devastating ramifications of a potential government shutdown while putting the blame strictly on Republicans. But when a Republican is in office, of course, things are somehow different.
On top of this, none of the networks mentioned that Democrats have been threatening to shutdown the government over this and EPA cuts since early March.
