In this episode of The Most Trusted Name in News, the hilarity is off the charts. In addition to comedy gold, CNN’s argument against work requirements for welfare recipients is the most revealing truth about the left to spew forth from the embattled left-wing network in quite a while — and that says a helluva lot.

As we reported Saturday night, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden finally reached an agreement in principle in the contentious debt ceiling battle. While various partisans on both sides claimed at least a partial victory, this article from my colleague streiff objectively analyzes the agreed-upon deal.

In contrast, CNN put on a helluva clown show on Sunday’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper directing the festivities. As reported by NewsBusters, political commentator Ashley Allison bizarrely claimed work requirements demanded by House Republicans are “offensive to poor people.”

But wait; it gets far more ridiculous — and revealing as hell.

Before Allison launched into her bizarre argument against requirements, she first made a somewhat reasonable (though disingenuous) statement:

I think it’s important to note that also Social Security, Medicaid, [and] Medicare [are] all staying safe, [and] not being touched at all.

I termed Allison’s comment disingenuous because the Democrat Party has for decades misled (bald-faced lied to) America about Republican plans to end social security and/or reduce benefits. Anyway, here’s an admission she obviously thought was a convincing argument against work requirements (emphasis mine):

I think the Republicans’ obsession with work requirements are offensive to poor people, assuming that people want to be poor and don’t have the fight inside of them to work hard. It’s offensive and I think it will ultimately come a backlash. But I think the way that they were able to negotiate and protect veterans, people who are homeless is really important.

Where to begin? In the interest of brevity, let me just say this:

For argument’s sake, let’s assume Ashley Allison was right: work requirements are offensive to poor (healthy) people who don’t want to work because working is hard, and these people just don’t have the fight to get a job. Not to be insensitive, but who the hell cares if healthy people would rather get paid to sit on their asses by hardworking Americans who do work?

Know why, Ms. Allison? Because healthy people — unless they’ve inherited financial independence — have to work for a living to pay their bills. It’s called being a responsible adult.

Allison’s argument lays bare what Republicans and conservative political pundits have said for six decades: Democrats have been hellbent on creating a permanent majority underclass that they believe will be beholden to their party — for eternity. [Hyperbole — barely.]

Democrats have brainwashed various segments of Americans to believe that, while they (the Democrats) haven’t delivered on all (any) of their hollow promises, just think how worse off they’d be without the Democrats to protect them from the evil Republicans.

Allison also took a cheap shot at McCarthy:

I also think though, is Kevin McCarthy going to be able to get it done in his caucus? I mean we were all sitting here at two a.m. in the morning seeing if he can get speaker votes, we weren’t sure what concessions he made. And so can he hold his caucus together, or is he gonna have to rely on Democrats yet again so that our country doesn’t default?

The above comment is too hypocritically ignorant to address.

Meanwhile, as my colleague Brittany Sheehan reported, McCarthy on Sunday defended the debt ceiling agreement after a backlash from House Republicans opposed to concessions to Biden. After conceding to reporters outside his Capitol office that the bill “doesn’t get everything everybody wanted,” the Speaker added:

I think people will look back and say, ‘Well I didn’t get exactly what I wanted.’ But there’s something in here that — it shouldn’t be about you, it should be about America. America believes that we have spent too much, so this spends less.

Does it?

The proof will be the pudding when a compromise bill is released. Until then, McCarthy will battle disgruntled Republicans, while Biden deals with the likes of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who said he “had no idea” what McCarthy was talking about because he had only heard of an agreement in principle and had not seen the bill’s language.

The Bottom Line

Given the current divisiveness in both parties, it’s difficult to envision meaningful progress with a Democrat in the White House and Democrats in control of the Senate. That said, I’ll say this, again: The 2024 presidential election will be critical — Let’s not screw it up.