Blitzer Says Dems Want Border Security, Trump Adviser Literally Leaves Him Speechless
As a potential partial government shutdown looms at midnight Friday, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate are locked in a back-and-forth battle over key spending bills.
The two parties appear to be at an impasse over a request from President Donald Trump for about $5 billion in funding for border security and a border wall.
Trump and Republicans have appropriately framed border security as being part and parcel with national security. They maintain that a border wall is an integral part of the necessary security measures to protect the nation from illegal immigration, human and drug smuggling and the infiltration of criminals and terrorists.
Meanwhile, Democrats have insisted that they too support border security, but deny the linkage of a border wall to border security and have made it abundantly clear through a game of semantics that they have no intentions of providing the president with the requested funds for a “wall.”
White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller appeared on CNN Thursday evening with host Wolf Blitzer to discuss the current impasse over funding for a border wall, and the purportedly neutral and objective “journalist” picked up and echoed the liberal talking point that Democrats were — aside from the wall — totally in favor of “border security.”
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer claims “Democrats support border security”
Stephen Miller: “They voted against Kate’s law, they voted against ending sanctuary cities, they voted against deporting MS-13 gang members [and] violent criminals, they voted…against a physical border wall” pic.twitter.com/vRcAVuUAv4
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) December 21, 2018
Blitzer asked Miller, “Are you talking to Democrats right now to come up with a compromise before midnight tomorrow night?”
Miller replied, “The Democrats, all they need to do is support border security and the government will be funded …”
Blitzer interrupted and said, “The Democrats support border security, they don’t support $5 billion for a wall.” In reply, Miller asked, “Could you identify, Wolf, for me some of the kinds of border security that Democrats say they would support?”
But Blitzer merely reiterated, “Democrats all say they support border security … where they disagree with you is building a wall.”
It was Miller’s turn to interrupt Blitzer partway through that canned response, and he absolutely went off, listing off a number of pieces of legislation and other aspects of border security that Democrats had staunchly opposed, revealing the disingenuousness of the claim that they supported securing the border.
Miller incredulously asked, “Like what? With all due respect Wolf, they voted against Kate’s Law, they voted against ending sanctuary cities, they voted against deporting MS-13 gang members, they voted against deporting violent criminals, they voted time and time again against a physical border wall to stop illegal entry.”
“I mean, where is the evidence that you keep asserting that they are for border security? They haven’t been,” he continued. “They opposed closing loopholes for asylum that flood our system with merit-less claims, they opposed ending catch-and-release …”
A seemingly stunned and shamed Blitzer held up his hand to stop Miller and changed the subject. “Alright, Stephen, I want to move on to another sensitive issue,” said Blitzer, ending the unexpected drubbing he had just received on that particular topic.
Wolf Blitzer was correct about one thing — Democrats do indeed like to claim that they support “border security” — but when he was pressed to provide any specific examples to support that claim, he had nothing to offer.
Meanwhile, Miller was most certainly correct in pointing out the numerous examples of border security-related issues that Democrats have either voted against or expressed opposition to, specific examples which completely undermine the absurd talking point parroted by Blitzer that Democrats want a secure border.
President Trump has made it clear that while he won’t budge on his demand for a border wall, he is nevertheless open to negotiations with Democrats on how best to accommodate that demand. Democrats, on the other hand, have refused to engage in any sort of negotiation, and both they and the media will certainly attempt to pin a government shutdown on Trump.
In reality, though, the ball is entirely in the Democrats’ court to try and reach an acceptable deal — one in which both sides walk away with something they want.
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