The legacy media’s ongoing coverage of the current government shutdown continues to maintain a Democrat frame, to the point of ridiculousness. Case in point, Kristen Welker’s interview of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on NBC’s Meet the Depressed.
Watch as Welker performatively demands that the shutdown end on Democrat’s terms, only to have Bessent flip the question back on to Welker:
NBC’s @kwelkernbc puts burden on Trump to end Democratic-created shutdown: “We’re now in the second long of the shutdown in U.S. History. When will President Trump meet with Democrats to try to bring this shutdown to a close and get federal workers their paychecks back again, Mr.… pic.twitter.com/HeK770QYuz
— Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) October 26, 2025
KRISTEN WELKER: We're now in the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history. When will President Trump meet with Democrats to try to bring this shutdown to a close and get federal workers their paychecks back again, Mr. Secretary?
SCOTT BESSENT: Kristen, I'm going to have to reject the premise of your question. Why did President Trump have to meet with Democrats? Democrats just need to go into the Senate and vote to end the shutdown.
WELKER: But President Trump has said in the past, “It’s up to the president” –
BESSENT: No, no, no, no, no.
WELKER: He said that in the past. He said, “You have to be a leader. The president has to lead. You have to get people into a room. You have to get a deal.” When is he going to do that?
BESSENT: Well, he is leading, and there's no deal to do with Chuck Schumer. Chuck Schumer is trading off his polls. What's different than when he passed the clean CR in the spring, it's his polls. You know, he's, we're the whole country is being held captive to AOC’s polls. But let's look at the numbers. It's 52 to 3. Fifty-two Republicans have voted I believe it's 11 times to reopen the government. Three Democrats have. And right here, right now, I would urge moderate Democratic senators to come across the aisle, reopen the government, because I'll tell you, we're starting to eat in the muscle here. This is starting to affect travel. It’s starting to affect the economy. And you know, this is quixotic. I don't know what the purpose is. I'm not sure they do.
Bessent rightfully reminds Welker that the House already passed a Concurrent Resolution, which Democrats have stalled in the Senate. Somehow this continues escaping the notice of the legacies, who always do these sorts of partisan whip counts when the show is on the other foot.
Welker takes multiple passes and tries to interrupt Bessent, who ends by making clear what is at stake by allowing the shutdown to continue. A partisan and completely avoidable shutdown is given continued cover by a partisan media that desperately wants a win- even if it is at the expense of the American people.
