Following the White House’s newly-released proposal for an immigration deal, on Friday, all three network morning shows dismissed conservative critics of the plan as “hardliners.” Despite also touting harsh rhetoric from Democrats who “blasted the proposal,” the same reporters refused to hurl any similar negative labels at the liberal lawmakers.
“One senior [White House] official calls the plan a dramatic concession to Democrats, and while some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are praising the proposal, many Democrats and hardline Republicans say they’re fiercely opposed,” proclaimed White House Correspondent Kristen Welker on NBC’s Today. She never explained why only Republicans earned the “hardline” label.
Later in the report, Welker declared: “And some of the President’s own base lashing out, saying giving Dreamers citizenship is amnesty. Breitbart News dubbing it, ‘Don’s Amnesty Bonanza,’ accusing Mr. Trump of reversing his campaign pledge to get tough on immigration.” She added: “White House officials insist they have to address Dreamers in order to get critical Democrats on board.”
Noting that “a number of conservative senators, including Tom Cotton and David Purdue, released statements expressing support for the President’s immigration proposal,” Welker worried: “...but not everyone. Senator Ted Cruz telling reporters, ‘I do not believe we should be granting a path to citizenship to anybody here illegally.’”
Reacting to the deal on CBS This Morning, political analyst Dan Senor predicted that “moderate Republicans” and “red-state Democrats” may agree to the plan, but feared:
I think the risk is with the immigration hardliners. I mean, last night I was hearing and seeing those from the immigration restrictionist community saying – you know, calling the White House and conservative Republican members of Congress – saying, “Wait a minute...it’s basically amnesty.” So I think them holding the hardline Republican immigration restrictionists in check is essential, you know, to holding this coalition together and it’s going to be challenging.
On ABC’s Good Morning America, Senior White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega announced: “The White House, as we all know, toes a very tough line on immigration, they say this is a major concession.” Given that “major concession” to Democrats, she fretted: “Many people are applauding this, but you’ve got hardliners like the Breitbarts of the world, who are now calling this president ‘Amnesty Don.’”
Even as conservatives were deemed “hardliners” for criticizing the deal, the NBC and ABC morning shows simultaneously touted Democrats ripping the proposal. On Today, Welker highlighted:
But most Democrats blasted the proposal. Top senator, Dick Durbin, saying, “Dreamers should not be held hostage to President Trump’s crusade to tear families apart.” The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, calling it “xenophobic, isolationist and un-American.”
In its haste to promote the incendiary liberal attack line, the broadcast’s graphics department apparently forgot how to spell, with the non-word “Zenophobic” showing up on screen.
On GMA, Vega similarly pushed Democratic talking points:
So one Democrat says that this doesn’t pass the laugh test. For Democrats, they see curbing family migration as cruel. And they say this $25 billion wall in exchange for citizenship for Dreamers is basically holding this population ransom.
That kind of hostile language certainly sounds “hardline,” but the media apparently only reserve that title for people they disagree with.
