ABC stayed upset at President Trump over the shutdown on Wednesday's Good Morning America. ABC reporter Tara Palmieri picked on the president for "griping" and "fuming" about the border wall, and then sneered "As the government remains partially closed for the fifth day, the president claiming without any proof that 400,000 federal employees working without pay over the holidays support his position."
But check what he actually said: Trump clearly implied "many" workers he's spoken with support the wall, that "these" employees back him. He didn't say "400,000 federal workers support me."
TARA PALMIERI: As the government remains partially closed for the fifth day, the president claiming without any proof that 400,000 federal employees working without pay over the holidays support his position.
REPORTER: What's your message to federal workers who are impacted by the shutdown?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think they understand what's happening. They want border security. [clip] Many of those workers have said to me and communicated -- "stay out until you get the funding for the wall." These federal workers want the wall.
PALMIERI: But some are skeptical. We spoke to one of those federal employees, a government contractor with an 8-month-old son. Facing uncertainty about his next paycheck, he's instead urging for an end to the shutdown.
RAEKWON SNYDER: Border security is great but, to basically -- it feels like extortion, he's holding our jobs hostage. [clip] If America is your first priority, you should certainly let us get back to work.
One trick the liberal reporters use is to say something is "unsubstantiated" or "without any proof," when they have made no attempt to prove it. Instead, they line up the soundbites to support their liberal position.
ABC most likely found Snyder from a typically one-sided story in The Washington Post, where he made snottier remarks about Trump:
Raekwon Snyder, 23, a contractor with the Food and Drug Administration who lives in Baltimore, tends bar on the weekends and said he is considering more shifts. He might also return to driving for Lyft or Uber...
Although Snyder is happy to have more time with his girlfriend and their 8-month-old son, he worries the shutdown will drag on. His girlfriend works part time at a federally funded state care program and fears her job could be vulnerable the longer the shutdown lasts.
“It’s definitely going to start to get rough,” he said. “It’s definitely an inconvenience, especially when the reason the government is shut down, I think most people agree, is ridiculous, because we don’t want to spend $5 billion on an electrified wall with flaming arrows.”
That's not exactly "border security is great," as Snyder said on ABC.
Obviously, a lot of unionized government bureaucrats who are going to take the Democrat position on everything to the media. But there are also a lot of security professionals in the government who might tell Trump to stand firm on border security.
The Post found four federal workers (and one head of a federal employee union) to denounce the shutdown, and no one in favor, including a typical hardship claim from Erin Kidwell: "Her family always lives modestly, she said, so unlike some co-workers, she will not have to return any Christmas presents. But she’s forgoing a party for her younger son’s fifth birthday, which comes a couple of days after Christmas."
PS: ABC is the same network that pulled this stunt in the 1995 Christmastime shutdown. "The Skattleberrys can't afford a Christmas tree," as if a double-income household couldn't find $50 for a tree thanks to Newt Gingrich.
