Monday’s CBS Mornings went to disgusting lengths to smear Americans who were deeply concerned about the ongoing crisis at the southern border, the unfettered flow of illegal immigrants, and the consequences of inaction, such as crime and drugs. Over nearly 10 minutes, the co-hosts blasted millions of Americans for holding “unsettling” views that don’t object to President Trump’s belief that the unincumbered stream of illegal immigrants was “poisoning the blood of” America.
And hilariously, the co-hosts – led by co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King – bemoaned the division of Americans by race given that all races spill the same blood. How ironic given the liberal media’s penchant for racial division and wokeism and celebrating ‘people of color’.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil began the segment by fretting Trump’s messaging – which wasn’t entirely different than his GOP opponents – “is exactly what many Republican voters want to hear”:
A thousand miles in the border is where I am, but immigration and border control are major issues in tonight’s Republican caucus. And, boy, have the politics changed. A CBS News poll finds more than 80 percent of Republican primary voters nationwide now agree with a recent comment from Donald Trump that immigrants coming here illegally are, and I quote, “poisoning the blood of the country.” Now every Republican candidate is vowing to get tough on the border. And what we found walking around Iowa is that is exactly what many Republican voters want to hear.
Moments later, Dokoupil dialed up the sob story of a liquor store owner who came to America illegally to insinuate and paint illegal immigration as a net positive (click “expand”):
DOKOUPIL: And that’s a worry for people like Sonia Morciego, who arrived here for Honduras on foot more than 30 years ago.
SONIA MORIEGO: I came here into this beautiful country because we have a lot of opportunities. If we have one purpose — to come to work, so I came in 1990 illegal.
DOKOUPIL: After shoveling snow to open the liquor store she owns in Marshalltown, Iowa, she told us today’s politicians just don’t understand people like her.
MORIEGO: I didn’t stop working since I came to this country. I work very hard every day.
He then bemoaned that, “Republican voters sure seem to have made up their minds” and don’t believe in people like Morciego since “[n]early three out of four hope to see immigration numbers decline, with most believing that newcomers are making crime, drugs, the economy, and even the country’s social and moral values worse.”
On cue, he dialed up the white, older Iowans to play the role of xenophobes (click “expand”):
JENITA BOYD: I want a culture that’s still our culture.
DOKOUPIL: Jenita Boyd is one of those Republicans in Marshalltown.
BOYD: People don’t want to move here. They call us Little Mexico.
DOKOUPIL: Since 1990, the Hispanic population here has jumped from less than one percent of the town to more than a third with many finding work at a meat-packing plant that anchors the local economy. [TO BOYD] What’s so different about the people coming over now compared to the many waves and generations of Americans who have come over before in one way or another?
BOYD: I think it’s the numbers. You know, there’s just so many. And it’s hard to assimilate that many people.
DOKOUPIL: That’s a fear we heard about often here in Iowa. First on a farm —
BOB BOWMAN: A lot of these people and, you know, right or wrong, but are bringing their own culture with them. And they’re — they’re not interested in — in becoming American.
DOKOUPIL: — and then, on a Sunday after church —
BONNIE HUDSON: I mean, we can’t provide ourselves, how can we provide for them?
HARLAN KUNDEL: Most of them are young men.
DOKOUPIL: Mmmm.
KUNDEL: God knows what they’re going to do.
DOKOUPIL: Mmmm.
KUNDEL: I fear that the most.
To his credit, Dokoupil acknowledged “maybe the most emotional border issue of all is drugs” and spotlighted one family who lost their 22-year-old son two years ago to fentanyl and believed the flow of drugs across the southern border played a part.
As if to somewhat rebuff their pain, Dokoupil offered what he felt was a reality check: “While far more fentanyl is seized at legal ports of entry than illegal crossings and the vast majority is smuggled by American citizens, according to Customs and Border Protection, the candidates are promising to use the U.S. military to take out Mexico’s cartels.”
He ended with Morciego, whom he said “agrees with the need for more protection on the border, but she hopes people will appreciate the potential there, too,” as evidenced by her daughter and grandson serving in the Army and that she became a citizen.
Dokoupil wrapped up by fretting America was at “a crossroads” and while his “heart breaks” for the family who lost their son and Marshalltown residents for feeling like their town has changed, but then lobbed them all under the bus by comparing illegal immigrants pouring in from Latin America, Africa, and even Asia for expansive welfare programs are just like his great-grandfather who came from Italy.
The refusal to see this not only upset Dokoupil but incensed King, who said the idea Americans agree with Trump about illegals was “so unsettling.” Naturally, fill-in co-host and pompous pundit John Dickerson teed off on Trump and Republicans writ large as supposedly refusing to see them as humans worthy of dignity (click “expand”):
DOKOUPIL: I’ve got a great grandfather who came from Italy in 1904. He was what we would now call an unaccompanied minor. A teenager, no English, no papers, no permission. His kids fought in World War II and, you know, now his grandson’s here talking to you today. So, I think, a question for millions out there with stories like mine is: What is it we feel is so different from my great grandfather and Sonia, who you just heard from today, and her kids now serving in the U.S. Army? I mean this genuinely, Gayle, I wonder if the only difference I can see is time.
KING: Hmmm. I don’t know. I think you said it right when you said we’re at a crossroads as a country. Thank you so much, Tony. I want to follow up, John, about the poll, that 80 percent of the Republican primary voters agree with this racially-charged comment coming from Donald Trump that immigrants coming here are illegally, “poisoning the blood of this country.” That’s so unsettling to me.
(….)
DICKERSON: But when you talk about blood —
KING: Yes.
DICKERSON: — you’ve jumped from immigration — blood doesn’t have an immigration status. So, a non-European person in America legally or illegally has the same blood.
KING: Yeah.
DICKERSON: Now you’ve jumped over into something else. And why does this matter? Politically, what it sends is a signal from Donald Trump saying I am more border than anybody else. I say outrageous things, and that’s proof that I’m going to be tougher on the border. So, his numbers go up with Republicans because they want somebody who’s tough on the border. But what it means as president is when issues come in towards you, how are you going to think about those people with that blood?
KING: Exactly.
DICKERSON: Whether — whether you’re the toughest on immigration, when you’re talking about blood, you’re not talking about policy anymore.
Dickerson’s lecturing wound down with a comical statement for a profession that sees race in everything and has seethed at the right’s pushback on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs: “You’re talking about human beings. So, how are you going to filter human beings when you’re thinking about them in terms of blood, which is contrary to the American idea, which is a country founded on ideas, not on blood.”
After co-host Nate Burleson fretted about Trump’s telling supporters they’re “more American than anybody else,” King again expressed her disgust: “I hear people say this is not who we are as a country and I’m starting to wonder who are we really as a country?”
In the second hour, Dokoupil posed this to 2024 GOP candidate and Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL): “We’re not just two Florida guys, we’re both two guys of Italian descent. I was talking earlier about how my great grandfather came here — un — unaccompanied minor, teenager, no English, no papers. I think your family came in a similar situation. What’s different, and is there still a place — is there still a place for that kind of immigrant?”
DeSantis wasn’t having any of this, arguing those who came to Ellis Island versus those at the southern border are completely different given the screening and desire for past waves to assimilate into American culture.
To see the relevant transcript from November 15, click here.
