public service from Shep Smith of Fox News:
“President Trump is calling caravan a national emergency, claiming criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. important note: Fox News knows of no evidence to suggest he’s accurate, and POTUS has offered no evidence” 1/2— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 22, 2018
And not just the ‘News’ side of Fox. Per the Washington Post, “A ‘Fox & Friends’ voter panel rebels when asked about the migrant caravan”:
Steve Doocy was about 30 seconds into Monday’s episode of “Fox & Friends” when he announced a Fox News alert.
“The migrant caravan in Central America is growing,” Doocy said when the alert graphic stopped obscuring his face…
Doocy brought out a panel of four people identified as independent voters and asked about the caravan.
“It’s north of apparently 7,000 people strong,” Doocy told the first independent voter, Michael Willner. “How big a problem is that, that the United States has uneven immigration laws?”
“I think uneven immigration laws are a problem for any country, and I think our immigration laws need to be modernized and updated,” Willner said.
“But this country is founded on immigration,” he continued. “And all of us come from immigrants.”
Doocy tried again.
“By the time it gets here, it could be 10,000. It could be 20,000,” he said. “What should the United States do?”
“This is the mightiest country on the planet,” Willner replied. “I think we can handle a caravan of people, unarmed, coming to this country.”
“Okay,” Doocy said, pointing to the second independent voter. “Cathy: real quick.”
“I think the immigration crisis we’re seeing is a result of the failure of the two democratic parties to actually engage the issue,” said Cathy Stewart, a vice president with Independent Voting…
“Sure,” said Doocy. And, moving on: “John, real quick.”
But John Opdyke continued the previous independent voters’ line of thought.
“There’s a humanitarian crisis taking place in Central America, and yet this issue gets turned into a complete political football,” he said. “There’s very little honest discussion about what’s actually happening.”
“And Aaron?” Doocy said. His voice had fallen to something like a raspy whisper.
“Treating this as an ‘invasion’ is a bad idea, and it’s going to end horribly if it is treated such as that way,” said Aaron Commey, a libertarian and the final independent voter on the panel.
Doocy collected his notes and sat up on his stool.
“Sure, but the backdrop is the midterms, so it all becomes political,” he told the voters. “So let’s see what happens!”…
In October 2014 before the midterms, GOP candidates & media suddenly filled up with charges that thanks to a "border crisis," ISIS was sending terrorists over from Mexico. (In some embellishments, they had Ebola too.) Trump's basically running a sequel. https://t.co/WxkjJgZsYn
— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) October 22, 2018
Open Thread: Maybe There *Are* Limits to Xenophobia As A Political Weapon?Post + Comments (17)