In what’s becoming more and more of a phenomenon — one that we’d like to see expanded — CBS News elected today to cut away from Donald Trump’s Rose Garden announcement of a “national emergency” at the southern border after just 21 minutes, instead returning to its regularly scheduled programming of one of America’s favorite game shows, The Price Is Right.
Each of the major networks carried the announcement today, being as it was slightly more important than a rally or really even the State of the Union address. The declaration of a national emergency has far-reaching consequences both for the disaster relief and military funding that Trump will be taking money from in order to fund his racist border wall and for the future of the Republican Party. As DC Tribune previously wrote, the use of a national emergency to secure funds that have not been approved by Congress for the use that a President wants to use them for will almost certainly backfire on Republicans as soon as a Democratic candidate takes over the White House.
Nevertheless, CBS was apparently sick of hearing him not answer reporters’ questions and repeat his lies about the state of affairs at the border with Mexico, and they cut away:
After 21 minutes, CBS just cut away from Trump’s speech and has gone back to the Price Is Right.
— Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) February 15, 2019
Trump plans to raid the military budget of $3.6 billion in construction funding, even as a Reuters report comes out today that the US Army’s top leadership has vowed to overhaul their housing construction contracts after the discovery of conditions that most would consider absolutely unacceptable.
It could be that Trump’s seizure of those funds causes our troops living in housing on Army bases across the country to continue to simply live with conditions that include toxic mold, rodent infestations, and lead poisoning. The President is risking the lives of our soldiers, just so he can build a tiny bit of a wall that will never be completed.
No wonder CBS cut away in disgust.
Featured image via screen capture.
