CBS News Radio White House correspondent Steven Portnoy snuck in a question at Thursday’s White House Press Briefing to Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders concerning the President’s comments about illegal immigrant gang members (specifically MS-13) being “animals.”
Sanders didn’t waste the opportunity to savagely torch the liberal media for rallying to the murderous gang’s defense against the President, even suggesting that the President didn’t go far enough.
Here’s Portnoy’s question: “I just want to ask you because so many people in the country have been talking about it in the past 24 hours. What did the President mean when that he said some immigrants are not people, they’re ‘animals?’”
For those in the liberal media who were spreading falsehoods to their audiences (or, in the case of people like MSNBC’s Elise Jordan and Politico Magazine’s Tim Alberta, blaming the President for this hubub), Sanders made clear that Trump “was very clearly referring to MS-13 gang members who enter the country illegally and whose deportations are hamstrung by our laws.”
Sanders reminded the White House press corps that MS-13's motto is “rape, control, and kill,” so “[i]f the media and liberals want to defend MS-13, they're more than welcome to.”
Since this seems to be a hill that the liberal media want to die on, Sanders came ready to fire back and informed the press that her boss didn’t go far enough because MS-13 gang members are not just “animals,” but ones who carry out “heinous acts.”
She then cited three examples of MS-13's devilish, stomach-churning behavior (all of which are true and be read in more detail here, here, and here):
Frankly, I don’t think the term that the President used was strong enough. MS-13 has done heinous acts. It took an animal to stab a man 100 times and decapitate him and rip his heart out. It took an animal to beat a woman they were sex trafficking with a bat 28 times, indenting part of her body and it took an animal to kidnap, drug, and rape a 14-year-old Houston girl. Frankly, I think that the term “animal” doesn't go far enough and I think that the President should continue to use his platform and everything can do under the law to stop these types of these horrible, horrible disgusting people.
To recap, scores in the liberal media rally to the defense of MS-13 gang members being called “animals,” but when NRA members and gun rights supporters were deemed “child murderers” without having committed any crime, it’s more than appropriate and won’t be challenged.
One can apply this same distinction between MS-13 gang members and Israelis, so take your pick. There’s more than enough double standards to go around.
Here’s the relevant transcript from May 17's White House Press Briefing.
White House Press Briefing
May 17, 2018
1:39 p.m. EasternSTEVEN PORTNOY: I just want to ask you because so many people in the country have been talking about it in the past 24 hours. What did the President mean when that he said some immigrants are not people, they’re “animals?”
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: The President was very clearly referring to MS-13 gang members who enter the country illegally and whose deportations are hamstrung by our laws. This is one of the most vicious and deadly gangs that operates by the motto of “rape, control and kill.” If the media and liberals want to defend MS-13, they're more than welcome to. Frankly, I don’t think the term that the President used was strong enough. MS-13 has done heinous acts. It took an animal to stab a man 100 times and decapitate him and rip his heart out. It took an animal to beat a woman they were sex trafficking with a bat 28 times, indenting part of her body and it took an animal to kidnap, drug, and rape a 14-year-old Houston girl. Frankly, I think that the term “animal” doesn't go far enough and I think that the President should continue to use his platform and everything can do under the law to stop these types of these horrible, horrible disgusting people.
