Authored by Joseph Wulfsohn via Mediaite.com,
President Donald Trump held a meeting on illegal immigration at the White House on Wednesday and one particular moment went viral… but for all the wrong reasons.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims expressed her frustrations with the federal government to the president regarding the handling of criminal illegal immigrants and cited MS-13 gang members as an example. Responding directly to that, Trump said the following:
“You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people, these are animals, and we’re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that’s never happened before.”
However, dozens of media outlets have only shared the response to Sheriff Mims, not including her question and comments that were directly about MS-13 and in the process purposefully mischaracterizing the president’s remarks to accuse him of referring to immigrants as “animals.”
CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and C-SPAN shared the clip on Twitter leaving out the crucial context of Trump’s response.
“We’re taking people out of the country. You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people — these are animals.” During a meeting with public officials who oppose California’s sanctuary policies, Pres. Trump criticized US immigration laws https://t.co/2KcrIhMnyR pic.twitter.com/SsmCdaofHb
— CNN (@CNN) May 17, 2018
Pres. Trump refers to some who cross the border illegally as ‘animals,’ not people. “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are.”
The president was holding a roundtable discussion with California elected officials who oppose the state’s sanctuary law. https://t.co/YfrZxC89CB pic.twitter.com/uvhKp9vwrO
— ABC News (@ABC) May 17, 2018
“These aren’t people. These are animals.” President Trump used the harsh rhetoric to describe some undocumented immigrants during a California “sanctuary state” roundtable. https://t.co/mOwXilRtwE pic.twitter.com/eYC6XhtR57
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 16, 2018
“We’re taking people out of the country — you wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.”
President Trump says the U.S. has “the dumbest laws on immigration in the world” during a roundtable on sanctuary cities. pic.twitter.com/SHRtgwQvYj
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 16, 2018
President Trump during California #SanctuaryCities Roundtable: “These aren’t people. These are animals.”
Full video here: https://t.co/alyS47LI5V pic.twitter.com/ifXicTHHP0
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 16, 2018
The New York Times shared Trump’s quote and implied that he was referring to “undocumented immigrants” instead of violent gang members.
Trump lashed out at undocumented immigrants during a White House meeting, calling those trying to breach the country’s borders “animals” https://t.co/aQNeu29T6e pic.twitter.com/ogrFKaWyDZ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 16, 2018
NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell tweeted that Trump’s “animal” jab was in reference to “people trying to get into the country.”
A tough take down by the California governor after @realDonaldTrump calls people trying to get into the country “animals” not people. https://t.co/LPKiHPJaWZ
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) May 16, 2018
Washington Post reporter Robert Costa noted that the president had used the term “animal” before on the campaign trail in 2015, but what he neglected to mention was that Trump specifically used the word in reference to the illegal immigrant who shot and killed Kate Steinle.
President Trump has used the “animal” phrase going back, at least, to 2015. https://t.co/XxqPpuEXNl https://t.co/ubSHVLBiEp
— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 16, 2018
The New York Daily News accused Trump of “hurling hate at immigrants” with its Thursday cover.
Cómo se dice racist? https://t.co/Z8ua4e2BcD
PLUS: Trump calls immigrants “animals” https://t.co/bTGQXEWEDA
An early look at Thursday’s front… pic.twitter.com/arWN3PltuP
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) May 17, 2018
Among the headlines, The New York Times had “Trump Calls Some Unauthorized Immigrants ‘Animals in Rant,” USA Today had “Trump calls undocumented people ‘animals,’ rhetoric with a dark past,” Voxhad “Trump on deported immigrants: ‘They’re not people They’re animals,’” The Huffington Post had “Trump Refers to Immigrants As ‘Animals.’ Again,” Business Insider had “Trump says some unauthorized immigrants ‘aren’t people’ but ‘animals’ who will be rapidly kicked out of the US,” and The Washington Post had “Calling immigrants ‘animals,’ Trump evokes an ugly history of dehumanization.”
While the president’s attacks of the media by constantly dismissing them as “fake news” sets a dangerous precedent, the media certainly doesn’t help its cause – giving him and his supporters ammunition – when it misleads viewers and readers by purposefully taking him out of context.
Watch the full clip below again (via CBS) and decide just how ‘fake’ the media has become.
As Scott Adams tweeted “Apologies are coming, right?” – we won’t hold our breath.
And finally, here is Mark Constantine to summarize the state of the world…
libs: Trump calling immigrants ‘animals’ is the language of a fascist!
journo: Trump’s out of context quote was about MS-13 members
libs: Stop 👏 dehumanizing 👏 gang 👏 members
— Mark Constantine (@vexmark) May 17, 2018
via RSS https://ift.tt/2rS0HPR Tyler Durden