Stuttering CNN host tries to twist Trump's words on immigration, but GOP rep is NOT having it

Countering the corporate media's concern over the former president's rhetoric, a congresswoman's defense left CNN's Abby Phillip stuttering to maintain the narrative.

(Video: CNN)

Efforts to smear former President Donald Trump as a dictator through comparisons to Adolf Hitler were a bridge too far for New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis. On Monday, the Republican lawmaker joined “CNN NewsNight” where she blocked pushy anchor Abby Phillip from misrepresenting comments made Saturday about the southern border crisis.

“Let me start by asking, is Trump right that immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country?” asked the lawmaker after getting the interview with a clip of the New Hampshire president's speech and a slew of GOP figures commenting on the remarks earlier.

“Well, I don't think that's what I was saying,” Malliotakis began. “When he said they were getting poisoned, I think he was talking about Democratic policies. I think he was talking about open border politics.”

“Congressman, you are saying that this is what you think you are saying. But he was quite clear. He said that the immigrants who enter, he says are poisoning the blood of the nation”, argued the host.

“He never said 'immigrants are poisoning,'” the congresswoman responded while Phillip added, “He was talking about people crossing the border.”

The New York representative stood firm, “He didn't say the word 'immigrants.' I think he was talking about Democratic policies.”

Trump's most recent use of the phrase had come during a speech in Durham, New Hampshire, when he told supporters: “We've got a lot of work to do. You know when they let in (I think the real number is 15 , 16 million people in our country), when they do that, we have a lot of work to do. They are poisoning the blood of our country, that's what they have done, they are poisoning. Mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not only in South America, not just in the three or four countries that we think of, but all over the world, they're coming to our country.”

“From Africa, from Asia, from all over the world, they pour into our country,” continued the president. “Nobody's even looking at them. They just came in. Crime is going to be tremendous. Terrorism is going to be — terrorism is going to be — and we built a big piece of the wall and then we're going to build more.”

Trump evokes more Hitler talk as he says illegal immigration 'poisons the blood of our country' https://t.co/zbOtWHVfcS road @BIZPACRevision

— Based on BPR (@DumpstrFireNews) December 17, 2023

He had also made a clear reference to lawbreakers when he used the same language in the Truth Social write-up in capital letters: “ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS POISONING THE BLOOD OF OUR NATION. THEY COME FROM PRISONS, INSTITUTIONS MENTALS, WORLDWIDE. WITHOUT BORDERS AND FAIR ELECTIONS, YOU HAVE NO COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

“He was talking about people, not politics,” Phillip continued.

“I know some people are trying to make it seem like President Trump is anti-immigrant,” Malliotakis noted. “The reality is he was married to immigrants, he hired immigrants…”

He later stated of Phillip's point: “I fundamentally disagree. I think what he was saying is that the Democratic policies, the policies of this administration that have allowed millions of people, including, remember, we caught people on the terror watch list. That should worry us in New York City in a post-9/11 world.”

The congresswoman managed to take another dig at President Joe Biden's administration as she blasted it for prioritizing handling illegal entries over those using proper immigration channels.

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel ·the.

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