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HACK! ABC’s Stephanopoulos Berates Johnson, Sucks Up to Jeffries Over Gov’t Shutdown
For day one of the government shutdown, ABC’s Good Morning America showed its rancorous liberal bias with back-to-back interviews Wednesday of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Co-host George Stephanopoulos fully embraced his background as a one-time Clinton official by berating and screeching at Johnson while providing Jeffries a rhetorically warm bed to lay his head at night.
Stephanopoulos had the nerves to come out of the block with this question to Johnson accepting the left’s talking points as fact:
Stephanopoulos interjected in disgust, hectoring Johnson about the claims illegal immigrants have received health care benefits:
After the ABC tool stated Johnson was wrong four times, Johnson actually had the time to explain Democrats want to “unwind the changes that the Republicans put into the Big Beautiful Bill” meant to bolster “Medicaid for the people who are actually eligible to receive it.”
“[W]e got an eligible recipients off of Medicaid, illegal aliens enabled by the young men who were riding the wagon who are not eligible to be there. Medicaid is intended for specific populations of U.S. citizens. That is young, pregnant women down on their luck, the disabled, and the elderly, those resources are being drained from those folks and so, we fixed that. We reduced waste, fraud, and abuse of the program,” Johnson explained.
Hours later, Vice President Vance took direct aim at Stephanopoulos’s badgering and masterfully explained how illegal immigrants were slyly able to tap into federal benefits once they were released by the Biden administration with notices to appear or in process of asylum claims (click “expand”):
I even saw I think it was George Stephanopoulos in an interview with Mike Johnson, did a fact check that was totally rooted in baseless claims. It was basically Democrat propaganda. If you look at the legislative text that they gave us, they tried to turn on two separate provisions that would give health care benefits to illegal aliens. Number one, if you’re an American citizen, you’ve been to a hospital in the last few years. You probably noticed that wait times are especially large. And very often somebody who’s there in the emergency room waiting is an illegal alien, very often a person who can’t even speak English. Why do those people get health care benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens? The answer is a decision made by the Biden administration that the Trump administration, working with congressional Republicans, undid. We turned off that money spigot to health care funding for illegal aliens. The Democrats, in their legislative text, want to turn it back on. That’s one thing. The second thing, Matt, is we all know that there are various ways in which the Biden administration waved away illegal immigration status. They gave parolees. They gave asylum claims to people who weren’t really claiming asylum. And when they waved the magic wand of amnesty, giving millions of people legal status even though they were in the country illegally, they also gave those people access to health care benefits. So, what the Democrats are engaging in is a sleight of hand. They’re saying, no, no, no, those weren’t illegal aliens who were getting health care benefits, even though everybody — excuse me — knows they were in the country illegally. It’s a lie told by the Democrats that they’re not trying to give health care benefits to illegal aliens. It’s a lie. That is obviously untrue. If you just look at the text that they gave us, and all you have to do is understand that this is about who benefits, we think the American people’s government ought to benefit American citizens. The Democrats are willing to shut it down to benefit illegal aliens. The contrast couldn’t be more clear.
Stephanopoulos hilariously decided to move on:
“He had another deepfake video overnight. How does that help the cause of getting a deal and opening the government,” he huffed, to which Johnson pointed out the obvious that Trump “uses social media for humor,” “makes jokes,” and “does a lot of things.”
Johnson then explained Schumer has a long history of “saying a shutdown would be dangerous and disastrous and reckless” and has pivoted because “ believes he will get a challenge for the Senate from AOC.”
Stephanopoulos moved to one final subject:
Johnson let him have it and schooled Stephanopoulos on what should really be the focus of the political world at this very moment verus whatever irks partisan leftists (click “expand”):
STEPHANOPOULOS: The President also saying at the Pentagon yesterday that he wants American cities to be used as training grounds for the American military. Is this the highest and best use of the military and is this the best way to train them?
JOHNSON: I — I don’t serve in the Pentagon, I run the House of Representatives and what we need to talk about today is the harm that the American people will feel because of what Chuck Schumer is doing. Let me tell you what — what’s going to be hurt today.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, hold on a second. As Speaker of the House —
JOHNSON: Women, infants, and children —
STEPHANOPOULOS: — do you — no, answer the question!
JOHNSON: — are not going to have nutrition programs provided ople in the American cities the enemy within. You — I’m asking you, as Speaker of the House, do think that’s appropriate?
JOHNSON: I’m — I’m not going to comment on your characterization of what the President said. I didn’t get to see that speech —
STEPHANOPOULOS: Those — those are quotes.
JOHNSON: — as I was a little busy yesterday.
STEPHANOPOULOS: They’re not characterizations.
JOHNSON: Well, you can take it out of context, which you often do and I don’t think it’s fair to the President. I can tell you what he’s done, though. He’s put troops and D.C. cleaned up the crime problem. People can walk to — safely to and from work today because the President takes crime seriously. Some big mayors in the blue cities are not and I think that’s probably what he was addressing there, but what we need to talk about now, speaking of troops, is they won’t be paid right now because the Democrats are playing political games. FEMA is not going to be provided. FEMA services will not be provided now that the governments shut down. A few flood insurance you need to renew before hurricanes come on, you can’t do that right now. We — we have people — critical medical services for veterans and families, I mean, suicide prevention programs, these are really serious issues that are being caused by the government shutdown and we need the Democrats to put the politics aside and keep the — the engines running here. It’s critically important for the American people and it’s stunning to me that they’re willing to play games like this when they themselves have said they will watch the tape through their entire careers that this should never be done.
Stephanopoulos had enough: “Mr. Speaker, thank you. Nothing I said about the President was out of context. Those were direct quotes from the President, but thank you for your time.”
“Cherry picked out of a long speech,” Johnson clapped back.
The Jeffries portion was a series of “your response” questions, starting with Trump and the military:
The second touched on illegal immigrants and government benefits:
Stephanopoulos closed by expressing personal concern for Jeffries and his caucus:
CBS Mornings also featured an interview someone part of the negotiations as they were able to snag Vice President JD Vance. Co-host Tony Dokoupil showed far more respect while also not lobbing softballs. Here were his questions (click “expand”):
I want to start with what’s happening now knowing that we’re going to talk about how we got here and how we got out of it, but right now the President has been talking about the possibility of mass layoffs. Is that an expansion or a continuation of what’s already happening, or should Americans be bracing for something new?
(....)
So, Mr. Vice President, let’s talk about how to get out of this by going right to that policy difference. It’s about subsidies supporting the Affordable Care Act. Democrats want to extend those subsidies. Republicans don’t. If those subsidies are not extended, people will see spikes in their health care costs. Some people will opt not to have insurance as a result. What do you want to have happen around those subsidies? Do you support extending them as a general matter?
(....)
Mr. Vice President, I — you know, both parties have shut down the government before because of policy disagreements. They often don’t get what they want. I have two quick follow-ups. First there on the Affordable Care Act subsidies, people do need to make decisions now. The renewal notices go out on November 1, so now is the time to think about whether you can afford health care going forward. Two, on this notion Democrats want to give a bunch of taxpayer dollars to illegal aliens, is that a reference to health care? Because when I look at it, you know, illegal aliens are not currently eligible for the Affordable Care Act as is, so what are you referring to there?
(....)
So, Mr. Vice President, what is your advice for more than 20 million Americans who rely on subsidies to afford health insurance?
On the third question, Dokoupil did not rudely interrupt and squabble with Vance about illegal immigrants receiving benefits.
Vance gave an explanation one will likely not hear elsewhere in the liberal media without some sort of condescending pushback:
If you go back to the Biden era, they did two separate things. First of all, they encouraged illegal aliens and funded illegal aliens to go to American hospitals for health care. That was number one. Number two, they gave a massive, what’s called parole, they effectively waived an amnesty wand and gave health care benefits to many illegally in the country without documentation, without proper authorization. We undid both of those Biden-era programs to cut off that health care funding to illegal aliens. The Democrats want to reinstitute those policies and they’re saying that unless you reinstitute those policies that give benefits to illegal aliens, we want to shut down the government. We, of course, think that’s preposterous and I think, frankly, some Senate Democrats obviously agree with us on that point.
To see the relevant transcripts from October 1, click here (for ABC) and here (for CBS).
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