Something else to add to the growing list of Things That Have Changed since the election to end all elections -- Trump-hating MSNBC is now trumpeting a term that the president has long been comfortable stating but MSNBC most assuredly had not until after Trump became president.
The wording in question -- "illegal immigrant" -- is usually verboten on the left and anyone who dares utter it is guilty of hate speech or, at the very least, deplorable red-state gauchery.
Those days are apparently past us now, thanks to MSNBC's ever-perky Rachel Maddow. On her show last night, Maddow gleefully recounted the myriad difficulties faced by Trump nominees until saying this about Trump's selection to run the Labor Department --
MADDOW: Consider also Andrew Puzder, fast-food zillionaire and the President's pick for labor secretary. And yeah, it might be because all kinds of stuff from his past has bubbled to the surface including old claims about spousal abuse that he and his former wife now rebut. But this is stuff buried now deeper than a cursory Googling.
He also faces difficulty divesting from his various interests. His holdings are reportedly complex and it's taken him a good long while to get his paperwork in order for the ethics check.
Tonight, Puzder revealed that he and his wife employed an illegal immigrant in his home for years, news that they have apparently just now revealed to the Trump administration because the Trump administration didn't figure it out themselves.
Because in its first month in power, the Trump administration has somehow yet to master the art of omniscience, unlike the so much more evolved administration it followed.
While Maddow somehow managed to mouth the previously dreaded words illegal immigrant, a capitalized BREAKING NEWS graphic flashed on screen, effectively doubling down on this otherwise forbidden phraseology -- 'REPORT: LABOR SECY. NOMINEE EMPLOYED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT.'
And the source for this news? The Huffington Post, which ran with this headline -- "Labor Nominee Andrew Puzder Has Another Problem: Undocumented Help," and this for the story's lede --
President Donald Trump's nominee to run the Department of Labor, Andrew Puzder, employed an undocumented immigrant as household help, Puzder has informed members of the administration and officials in the Senate involved in his nomination process.
Much the same approach was evident elsewhere in media --
Trump's Labor Dept. pick admits to employing undocumented worker (CNN.com)
Andrew Puzder, Trump's Labor Pick, Admits to Hiring Undocumented Maid (New York Times)
Andy Puzder Employed Undocumented Housekeeper (Wall Street Journal)
Labor Nominee Andy Puzder Hired Undocumented Household Employee (NBC News)
Trump's Labor Nominee Employed Undocumented Immigrant (The Atlantic)
Ever willing to lean forward, even if it means parroting the vernacular of a politician she loathes, Maddow dispensed with the milquetoast euphemism of "undocumented" and decided instead on more straightforward language -- such that is routinely heard in those previously blue states that flipped red in November and won the election for Trump.
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