Chris Cuomo Injected With Truth Serum

Earlier this week, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo left the comforts of his New York City studio to travel to the US-Mexico border.  He decided to do something few in the media have bothered to do; check out the situation at the border for himself.  Coincidentally, his appearance at the border took place on April Fools’ Day.  Maybe that can explain why his closing argument made so much sense.

In the past, Cuomo has done his best to paint President Trump as a racist for his immigration policy; accusing the President of subscribing to a fear-based “brown menace theory.”  I have written numerous articles about Cuomo’s liberal hysteria and covert liberal activism for NewsBusters, dating all the way back to his time as a co-host of CNN’s “New Day.”  In the past, Cuomo has called the idea of merit-based immigration racist, acted as a cheerleader for DACA multiple times, accused President Trump of wanting to “whip up as much fear and xenophobia and conflict as he can,” and encouraged Congressional Republicans to “muscle up” and vote against President Trump’s national emergency declaration.

With one trip to the border, it seemed like Cuomo agreed with President Trump about the national emergency. In his closing argument, Cuomo remarked “I thought it was an April Fools’ joke when I first looked at the schedule for hearings in Congress today,” lamenting the fact that nothing on the calendar had anything to do with addressing the situation at the border.

Cuomo asked a question that many Americans would like to know the answer to: “why is there no urgency?” Cuomo admitted that the crisis at the border dates all the way back to Obama administration, where “they had the unaccompanied minors.  You remember those pictures, right? People panicked seeing them in pens, overcrowded…no lessons were learned.”  Cuomo just took a sledgehammer to the narrative that the Trump administration alone “put kids in cages.”

After talking about how the people in power said “no more” to “kids in cages” and “family separation,” Cuomo asked “what about now? This is worse.”  Cuomo directly went after Congressional Democrats: “You want to call building walls immoral? What about doing nothing in a situation like this? What do you call that?” Cuomo also pushed back at those on the anti-ICE bandwagon by declaring “do not think for a second that the people protecting us on the border like to abuse migrants. I have never seen anyone get an ounce of joy of doing the job they’re forced to do right now.” Cuomo advocated for Congress to “pass new rules” and “pass temporary rules” to reform the asylum laws before closing the show with a call to action: “If you don’t want this many people coming in, do something. If you want people to be treated better, for kids not to be traumatized, and worse, do something. If you respect our law enforcement and the rule of law, do something.”

Instead of taking Cuomo’s advice, a majority of the 535 members of Congress have decided to do nothing rather than repeal the law known as the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act that basically allows unaccompanied minors from Central America a free pass into the United States.  As Ann Coulter pointed out, both parties and the most powerful interest groups benefit from the immigration status quo; which consists of a massive amount of illegal immigration: “Everyone who supports our current immigration policies does so for his own reason: Democrats for the votes; Employers for the cheap labor; Rich people for the nannies, maids, and gardeners; (and) Republicans for the campaign cash.” 

Cuomo definitely could have done a more expansive look as to why both parties have no incentive to fix the immigration status quo but then again, CNN probably would have fired him if he dared to quote Coulter. 

If every other so-called journalist in the mainstream media would follow Cuomo’s lead and take a trip to the border, maybe the open borders propaganda emanating from their mouths, such as a CBS article romanticizing human smugglers entitled “The human coyotes helping migrants survive Central America’s grueling Darien Gap jungle,”   would come to an end once and for all.  In the past, journalists have not hesitated to leave Midtown Manhattan or the Swamp to cover the United States’ foreign entanglements and/or developments in foreign policy.  In 1989, NBC’s Tom Brokaw reported from the Brandenburg Gate as the Berlin Wall came tumbling down.  In 2003, several journalists made their way to Iraq as Operation Iraqi Freedom, also known as the Iraq War, began.  NBC News correspondent and former “Weekend Today” co-host David Bloom actually lost his life from a blood clot as he reported from the Middle East at the start of the Iraq War.  Former CBS News correspondent Lara Logan became a victim of sexual assault as she covered unrest in the Middle East during the Obama administration.

Natural disasters have also led journalists to take field trips to the parts of America located outside the Acela corridor, most notably in the case of Hurricane Katrina.  NBC’s Brian Williams made appearances both in Iraq and New Orleans; where he exaggerated what happened to him, to put it charitably.  This cost him his spot as NBC Nightly News anchor but following his six-month suspension, he received a new assignment as the host of an 11:00 p.m. show on MSNBC; where he could recycle the talking points of the Democratic Party and not feel guilty about abandoning his role as a “straight news” journalist.

During an appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” earlier this week, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen described the situation on the border as a “category 5 hurricane.” With that in mind, a lot more journalists should pack their bags and report from the border. No doubt about it, reporting from the border does not have the same perks as reporting from a studio in New York City, Washington, or Los Angeles.  As Lawrence Jones reported from the border town of Laredo, Texas for Fox News, a handful of insects happily joined him on camera. 

Rather than praise Jones for his brave reporting, where he accompanied border patrol agents as they captured two Chinese nationals who paid the human smugglers glorified by CBS News thousands of dollars, keyboard warriors mocked Jones for wearing a bulletproof vest.  Jones explained his need for a bulletproof vest during an appearance on “Hannity” Thursday night: “What people don’t understand is we control this side of the border, but the cartels control the other side of the border. So there’s been gun fights. I’m going in danger with these Border Patrol agents to report on this story.”

While Category 5 hurricanes such as Hurricane Katrina cost billions of dollars in damage, illegal immigration costs the United States billions of dollars a year.  A 2010 report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform found that education for illegal immigrants costs the American taxpayer more than $2 billion while nearly $6 billion in American taxpayer money goes to the medical needs of illegal immigrants.  Adding in public assistance, law enforcement, and general expenditures brings that total to over $28 billion.  At the state and local level, taxpayers spend a combined $83,851,000 on illegal immigrants.  Add those two numbers together and illegal immigration costs taxpayers $113 billion at the state and federal level. At this point, most amnesty proponents will talk about how illegal immigrants more than make up for the costs they incur on the American people with the taxes they pay.  The FAIR study proves that talking point incorrect. The study estimates that illegal immigrants only pay $13.5 billion in taxes at the state and federal level; nowhere near enough to make up for the cost of more than $100 billion that gets passed on to on taxpayers.  For a little perspective, Hurricane Katrina cost $125 billion.

Going back to the mainstream media, the White House press corps did end up taking Cuomo’s advice and headed to the border but not by choice.  President Trump took a field trip to Calexico, California Friday and many in the press corps tagged along.  Rather than ask questions about the situation at the border, his reason for the visit in the first place, some in the media chose to ask utterly irrelevant questions about the President’s tax returns.  As for Cuomo’s colleagues whose beat consists of anchoring a one-hour primetime show from the comforts of a climate-controlled studio, many of them have yet to follow his lead. 

The press corps that headed to Calexico did not face the same dangers as Cuomo and Jones, who reported from Hidalgo and Laredo, respectively, two of the epicenters of the immigration crisis.  As the President addressed the media in the Southern California city, he stood in front of a newly constructed border wall.  Gloria Chavez, Border Patrol Chief of the El Centro sector, also addressed the media and informed them that the wall caused illegal entries to decrease by 75 percent and assaults on Border Patrol agents to decrease by 65 percent.  So much for the idea that walls don’t work. President Trump predicted that illegal entries and assaults on border patrol agents would decrease to 100 percent with the construction of more border fencing in the El Centro sector.

In addition to mainstream media figures, Democratic politicians could definitely benefit from a field trip to the border. Maybe after seeing firsthand the chaos Lawrence Jones experience and/or speaking with Border Patrol agents, Nancy Pelosi would abandon her description of the wall as an “immorality.”  But she will never abandon that position because she simply cannot afford to. One of the Presidential candidates in her party, Julian Castro, has gone so far as to suggest decriminalizing crossing the border illegally.  If Pelosi dares to move closer to President Trump than Castro when it comes to immigration, surely a rebellion will take place in the House Democratic Caucus; likely led by the new leader of the Democratic Party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Cuomo, on the other hand, does not have as much to worry about by daring to take a reasonable position on immigration; if only temporarily. Those who expect wall-to-wall liberal propaganda have the option to switch the channel o MSNBC.  Those who have no interest whatsoever in hearing the conservative point of view can wait until 10:00, when Don Lemon comes on the air. In the past, Lemon has gotten into fights with Cuomo because the Governor of New York’s brother dares to bring on people from the White House such as Kellyanne Conway. In the meantime, America should rejoice that one of President Trump’s toughest critics has opened his eyes to the reality happening on the southern border. At the same time, do not expect him to become a loyal ally of the Trump administration either. But maybe, just maybe, if more journalists follow Cuomo’s lead and take a trip to the border, Sean Hannity can eventually retire one of his signature phrases, “journalism is dead.”