In the 7:00 a.m. Eastern half-hour of CNN’s New Day, co-host Alisyn Camerota and chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin submitted that the images over the last week with migrants storming the U.S. border with Mexico, seeking to force their way (illegally) into the country illustrated that — wait for it — the U.S. does not need a border wall.
Camerota led the way, first telling senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson that, despite videos like ones in this thread from over the weekend: “I’m not sure that it proves that we need a border wall; in fact, it's the opposite the border worked, border security here worked.”
She then proceeded to reiterate her latest attempt at mental, political, and rhetorical gymnastics (click “expand”):
So, however many people rushed the border, 39 were arrested, they are going to be deported. No one breached the border. So shutting down the border worked and it also proves, that we don’t need a, I think, a border wall because the migrants made and went out of their way to go to the Tijuana entrance because the rest of the border was considered too hazardous, too dangerous to cross so they went an extra hundreds of miles to the port of entry in Tijuana because they considered that the easiest. So, in other words the system is actually working, but you know the politics better than us and so how will this play out over the next two weeks as we lead up to a government shut down?
Henderson responded with dismay that Trump was already “using this incident at the border there to show what he thinks is this violent band of migrants who want to overtake the border there, who want to throw rocks and who, at all cost, need to be kept out of the country.”
Again, if you watched video, read news accounts, or kept up with reports from numerous countries as my colleague Bill D’Agostino chronicled, you’d find that the caravan was quite the opposite of what CNN and the rest of the liberal media have insisted.
Going to CNN political analyst Michael Smerconish, co-host John Berman remarked that this weekend’s border developments could serve as “something of a Rorschach test” on both sides:
People will look at the picture and say tear-gas on women and children? Is that what America wants to be? The flip side of that is 5,000, maybe more, migrants in the so-called caravan in Tijuana now, 500 of them did rush the border, which is a picture that President Trump will look at that and say that's what we need to stop, too.
Smerconish agreed, but not without a cheap shot at Fox News because, put simply, Fox News lives rent free in CNN’s head.
He stated that “my hunch is on a different cable outlet it's all about migrants who are lawless and are rushing our border” and thus “people will look and see in this what they want to for their own political objectives.” For him, it’s Hillary Clinton warning Europe about the issue while speaking to The Guardian, so it was nice of him to clarify where he’s at.
As our friends at Mediaite pointed out, Toobin played his role at CNN by giving his political hot takes instead of offering legal analysis, insisting that “I don’t see why” the wall “is something Democrats should fear because most people don't want the wall and as this — as this incident illustrates, the wall wouldn't make any difference.”
(h/t: Grabien)
To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s New Day on November 26, click “expand.”
CNN’s New Day
November 26, 2018
7:03 a.m. EasternALISYN CAMEROTA: Let’s talk about this. We want to bring in CNN chief analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. We want to bring host of CNN Smerconish, Michael Smerconish and CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson. Nia, I want to start with you, because as unfortunate as this incident is, I’m not sure that it proves that we need a border wall; in fact, it's the opposite the border worked, border security here worked. So, however many people rushed the border, 39 were arrested, they are going to be deported. No one breached the border. So shutting down the border worked and it also proves, that we don’t need a, I think, a border wall because the migrants made and went out of their way to go to the Tijuana entrance because the rest of the border was considered too hazardous, too dangerous to cross so they went an extra hundreds of miles to the port of entry in Tijuana because they considered that the easiest. So, in other words the system is actually working, but you know the politics better than us and so how will this play out over the next two weeks as we lead up to a government shut down?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: Well, you see already that the President is using this incident at the border there to show what he thinks is this violent band of migrants who want to overtake the border there, who want to throw rocks and who, at all cost, need to be kept out of the country. Remember, he also has essentially authorized the military to use lethal force, the military wasn’t involved in this. Obviously, it was border control agents.
(....)
7:06 a.m. Eastern
JOHN BERMAN: Michael Smerconish, this is something of a Rorschach test, though, right? People will look at the picture and say tear-gas on women and children? Is that what America wants to be? The flip side of that is 5,000, maybe more, migrants in the so-called caravan in Tijuana now, 500 of them did rush the border, which is a picture that President Trump will look at that and say that's what we need to stop, too.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Right and I haven’t looked this morning, but my hunch is on a different cable outlet it's all about migrants who are lawless and are rushing our border. So, people will look and see in this what they want to for their own political objectives. Here’s I am thinking of today. I’m thinking of the speech, the interview that was recently given by Hillary Clinton to The Guardian, where she delivered a warning to European leaders and said look, you need to send a message that we can no longer provide refuge and support the way we have in the past to migrant communities because unless we send that message, this issue will continue to give fuel to right-wing populist movements, and then comes this, and I think that the political gain here will be the President's. I think that his base will remain steadfast in the face of that footage and it may even be a catalyst, if he will give on dreamers to get some wall funding, which he hasn’t been able to do, if he can line it up in the next 39 days which is what he has on the clock with the Republican-controlled both the House and Senate, so I think this is crunch time is what I’m trying to say.
CAMEROTA: Yeah, well, even before those 39 days, Jeffrey, there could be a government shutdown and the President threatened the issue of his funding for a border wall to shut down the government if need be.
JEFFREY TOOBIN: He said that and — and he may well. You know, his base is going to support him no matter what. His base was not good enough to get him control of the United States House of Representatives, so I mean, the idea that his base is going to control the outcome here is — is — is not really accurate. What — whether — he does not need — if he tries to shut down the government, I don't think that will be a popular move over this wall. The wall is unpopular. I mean, yes, his base likes the wall, but other than that, shutting down the government over this wall, I don’t see why that is something Democrats should fear because most people don't want the wall and as this — as this incident illustrates, the wall wouldn't make any difference.
