With the border deal dead, it’s all over but the shouting. And by shouting, we mean ABC News continuing to carry the Biden administration’s water in an update that practically reads like it came out of the White House press shop.
As is often the case at ABC, World News Tonight anchor David Muir’s introduction is very often the tone setter for whatever video comes next. Watch here as Muir seemingly ticks off as many of the White House’s talking points as possible before handing off to Rachel Scott:
DAVID MUIR: We turn next tonight here to the border crisis, and Senate Republicans tonight have now killed the bipartisan bill in the Senate that contained many of the Republicans' own demands. $650 million to build and reinforce miles of fencing. More patrols, and a complete shutdown of the border, when the number of migrants exceeds 5,000. Donald Trump had pressured Republicans not to agree to this bipartisan solution, with the presidential race and election nearing. That pressure has worked. Rachel Scott on the Hill tonight.
“Republicans killed the border bill they asked for”, check. “They did Trump’s bidding”, check. The report goes on down the list. In fact, it doesn’t get any better with Rachel Scott.
And, of course, the fundamental premise of the report is deeply flawed and is outright disinformation. I, for one, know of no Republicans that “demanded” allowing up to a daily average of 4,999 migrants across the border, among many other things. Zero. But The Narrative requires successfully selling this line in order to be able to sell that Trump ultimately killed the bill.
In fact it was the House that first addressed the border, with the passage of H.R. 2. This fact gets muddied in order to put forth a narrative that Speaker Mike Johnson called for this very border deal that couldn’t even bring every Democrat aboard. For the narrative to work, it must negate the existence of H.R. 2, and barring that, render it interchangeable with the dead Senate bill.
The report closes with another recitation of the earlier talking points, which confirm my hypothesis about the border bill- that it wasn’t so much a bill to secure the border as it was a bill to secure the electoral prospects of Joe Biden by deflecting the border disaster on to the GOP. Given their role in disseminating that line of attack, it should be evident that we do not exaggerate when referring to the media as “regime media”.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Wednesday, February 7th, 2024:
DAVID MUIR: We turn next tonight here to the border crisis, and Senate Republicans tonight have now killed the bipartisan bill in the Senate that contained many of the Republicans' own demands. $650 million to build and reinforce miles of fencing. More patrols, and a complete shutdown of the border, when the number of migrants exceeds 5,000. Donald Trump had pressured Republicans not to agree to this bipartisan solution, with the presidential race and election nearing. That pressure has worked. Rachel Scott on the Hill tonight.
RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, Republicans in the Senate overwhelmingly voting to reject the border security bill they themselves had demanded, full of their own priorities for cracking down on illegal immigration. Only four Republicans voted to advance the bipartisan bill, including one of the senate's most conservative members- James Lankford of Oklahoma, who led negotiations with Democrats.
JAMES LANKFORD: If we're going to solve something, we have to sit down together and solve it. That's how it works when you make law. You can do press conferences without the other side, but you can't make law without the other side in the United States Senate.
SCOTT: The bill included a number of Republican priorities. $20 billion to strengthen the border, hiring new officers and border patrol agents. $650 million to build and reinforce miles of fencing. And $404 million to hire new judges and support staff to expedite asylum cases. It also introduced a new safeguard. When migrant apprehensions reach 5,000 a day, the border would automatically shut down.
LANKFORD: And when the border's closed down, it's closed down for weeks.
SCOTT: But Donald Trump pressured Republicans to vote against the bill. He wants to run on immigration in the election.
LANKFORD: In fact, I had a popular commentator four weeks ago that I talked to that told me flat-out, before they knew any of the contents of the bill, any of the contents-- nothing was out at that point -- that told me flat-out, if you try to move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year, I will do whatever I can to destroy you. Because I do not want you to solve this during the presidential election. By the way, they have been faithful to their promise and have done everything they can to destroy me.
SCOTT: President Biden saying Republicans had to decide.
JOE BIDEN: Who do they serve, Donald Trump or the American people?
SCOTT: House Speaker Mike Johnson was one of those Republicans who demanded a border security deal, saying in November that without it, there would be no new funding for Ukraine.
MIKE JOHNSON: I think we can get bipartisan agreement on both of those matters.
SCOTT: But when Trump came out against the bill Johnson reversed course, declaring it dead on arrival. Instead, he focused on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. But in an embarrassing defeat --
JOHNSON: The resolution is not adopted.
SCOTT: He didn't have the votes.
JOHNSON: Last night was a setback, but democracy is messy.
SCOTT: Today, house Republicans, still focused on impeaching Mayorkas rather than working with Democrats to fix the border.
Does this solve any crisis at the border…
TROY NEHLS: Oh, I would impeach him at all costs.
SCOTT: …rather than reaching out to Democrats?
NEHLS: I don't care. I don't care if it takes a third time.
SCOTT: David, bottom line, tonight, that bill is dead. Again, Republicans were the ones who were pushing for those border security measures. Now, they are making it clear they are no longer interested in a bipartisan solution to address the crisis at the border before the November election. David.
MUIR: Rachel Scott, live in Washington again tonight. Rachel, thank you.
