A daily roundup of the biggest stories in right-wing media.
As in non-conservative outlets, the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates on the impact of the proposed American Healthcare Act proved to be a huge story in right-wing media Monday evening and Tuesday.
While many outlets reported the CBO’s findings directly, they tended to avoid saying Americans would “lose” their healthcare if the bill became law. A Heat Street article, for example, read, “Under Trump Healthcare Plan 20 Million Would Drop Coverage, Government Report Says.” Independent Jourrnal Review wrote, “The number of uninsured Americans is projected to rise … in comparison to the ACA,” and the Daily Caller used similar language. LifeZette took a more critical approach in “CBO Exposes False Promises of Republican Health Care Plan.” That article concluded, “The AHCA doesn’t change the business model of American health care—it just applies a different shade of lipstick to this pig. Real conservatives know this isn’t the best we can do. And they know we must do better now.”
Much as conservative politicians disagreed over the CBO’s findings, conservative media lacked a consistent response. The Independent Journal Review summed up prominent objections in “Republicans Think There Are Plenty of Reasons to Doubt the CBO Score of Obamacare Replacement.” Fox News implied that the CBO score was not to be trusted while lending it some credence at the same time, all in the same headline: “Budget ‘Score’ Rattles Push to Pass ObamaCare Repeal.” That piece proposed that “The so-called “score” from the Congressional Budget Office wasn’t all bad.”
As publications and politicians across the political spectrum worked to make sense of the findings, Breitbart published audio of an October 2016 conference call in which, as the publication framed it, Paul Ryan claimed “he was abandoning then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump forever and would never defend him ever again.” With this, Breitbart seemed to be continuing its ongoing campaign to distance Trump from the bill. Similar stories were evident on the site’s homepage—which often relies on juxtaposition to develop narratives—on Tuesday. One section of the page, for example, placed an article headlined “Trump Signals ‘Big Fat Beautiful Negotiation’ on House Healthcare Bill…” over one that claimed “…GOP Leaders Double Down on Ryan Bill After Harsh CBO Score.”
Breitbart
Following Breitbart’s lead, other conservative publications covered the leaked audio, though some questioned whether it was revelatory. Independent Journal Review, for example, wrote, “It should also be noted that aspects of the conference call were previously reported,” before concluding, “Breitbart seems to have its sights set on Ryan—and it looks like it could get ugly.” The Daily Caller likewise acknowledged that, “despite not revealing any new substantive information, the tape’s publication … could reopen old wounds between Ryan and Trump.”
On social media, posts repeating accusations that Barack Obama had solicited British help to spy on Trump were widely shared from conservative Facebook pages:
