Peter Doocy wants to know why the Biden administration hates Christmas.
At least, he implied as much when he presented a union rep's opinion as the framework for imposing a false choice on Jen Psaki.
"The leader of a union representing Fed Ex, UPS, and DHL is saying that supply chain problems are going to get worse with labor shortages right before the holidays unless the president postpones the requirement to get vaccinated by December 8th. What is more important to this president? The vaccine mandates, or fixing the supply chain as fast as possible?"
Why are those two things mutually exclusive? What makes that union leader the definitive authority on members quitting? Apart from police officers in Seattle, we aren't really seeing these threats to quit from employees come to pass. Finally, why can't vaccine mandates help fix the supply chain problem, rather than exacerbate it? This was the approach Psaki took.
"Well, first, I would say that that is not actually what we've seen at companies that have implemented these vaccine requirements, that are even not part of federal law, yet," Psaki began, before Doocy tried to interrupt (because why is a lady allowed to finish her sentence, amirite?) But Psaki maintained control, as usual, reassuring the fragile Doocy that he would get his turn back.
"Let me just finish. I'm gonna let you talk, don't worry about it! I'm gonna let you talk, okay?" she soothed him.
"So, American and Southwest CEOs have made clear there won't be a labor shortage. We've seen United Airlines implement this. And as we've also said, as we work to implement these federal employee requirements, the first step is not firings," she explained. "It's actually education and counseling. So we don't actually anticipate these disruptions. What we've seen for companies who have implemented these requirements is an increase from 20 to 90 percent."
Her final point was the kicker, and indisputable.
"Last thing, and then I'll let you ask your follow up, the other piece of this is that COVID is an enormous labor disruptor, not only because it's the number one cause of death in some industries, in some professions, including police forces across the country, but because people are out sick, people are worried about coming to work, this is one of the reasons that a lot of these companies have implemented these requirements."
It's tough for Fox to understand this, as their main goal, it has seemed, has been to kill off as many of its own viewers as possible from COVID, so this makes Psaki's patience and genuine effort even more heroic.
Taking another pathetic pass at the question, Doocy said, "Just so that I understand the position, then, this union leader says that the looming December 8th mandate for having fully vaccinated workforce creates a significant supply chain problem. You say, no it does not. Is that right?"
"What I would point to, Peter, is the evidence we've seen from companies, large companies, private sector companies, that have implemented these requirements across the board," she answered.
Not that evidence matters to anyone at Fox, but Psaki is determined to present it to him, regardless. And for that, we give thanks.
