On Monday, the liberal media really started paying attention to the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border but it wasn’t the nearly 15,000 Haitians living in squalid conditions under a bridge they were concerned about. Suggesting the image of a mounted Border Patrol agent attempting to stop an illegal immigrant was “a kind of barbarism and we have to be better than,” CNN Prime Time host Chris Cuomo went on a screed against the agent; equating him to either a slave master or someone hunting runaway slaves.
“We really are in the throes of this country of figuring out who we are and what we're about. And I was taken aback by a single image that should make you pay attention to a problem,” Cuomo lamented as he returned from a commercial.
According to his hysterics, the unnamed Border Patrol agent leaning off his horse to grab a man trying to illegally enter the country was the kind of racist you would see pre-Civil War:
As an image, to me it does smack of a bygone era of slavery aided by reports of people being beaten whether with a rioting crop or the reins, most likely. You may be drawn to the desperation of the man trying to escape. Others in the desperation of keeping our borders safe of what I believe the former president tried to depict as a brown menace at our border. None of this, none of it is new and it is not isolated.
This bloviating stemmed from false reports, which circulated all day and were also peddled by the Biden administration, that the mounted agents were using “whips” against the black people trying to cross. Of course, Cuomo refused to show the images of Latino agents on horseback.
Building off a soundbite of Press Secretary Jen Psaki ignorantly going off on the image by saying she doesn’t “think anyone that seen that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate,” Cuomo lashed out at Border Patrol.
“Well, somebody did. Right? Because that's how they decided to deal with the situation. So, the question becomes get to the bottom of it. Find out who said it was okay. Why was it okay? Tell us,” he sneered. “But this is more than a picture; it's a reality.”
“Look, that is their job. But it's – what is being done to allow this country to process the need. We can't do better than horseback,” Cuomo demanded to know. He would get around to admitting horses were needed because of the terrain, but, at the same time, he argued that a border wall wouldn’t solve the problem (Click “expand”):
You see the video. But you need to see the confluence. All right? Everything going on at once. All captured in this one image. Okay? See the horse. Their use is common and necessary along this part of the border.
The horse is there because a wall was never going to be enough. Sounded simple. Because it was simplistic. We were never a wall away. We’ve spent billions on technology, drones, helicopters, sensors, blimps, cameras. Even, yes, fencing. But given the terrain, the work of patrolling often has to be done on horseback.
Cuomo would eventually sympathize with the agent he was just smearing as a racist. “Look at the agent's face. What do you see? Frustration. Anger. They've been put in a bad position. They are overwhelmed. The system is overwhelmed,” he said.
But the damage was done. Cuomo already framed the man as a slavery-era racist. And as Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Chuck Ross described it on Twitter: “I guess CNN learned absolutely nothing from Covington[.]”
Chris Cuomo’s smears and lies against that Border Patrol agent were made possible because lucrative sponsorships from Behr and SoFi. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
September 20, 2021
9:40:37 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: We really are in the throes of this country of figuring out who we are and what we're about. And I was taken aback by a single image that should make you pay attention to a problem.
This one. There's a lot here. Yeah. As an image, to me it does smack of a bygone era of slavery aided by reports of people being beaten whether with a rioting crop or the reins, most likely. You may be drawn to the desperation of the man trying to escape. Others in the desperation of keeping our borders safe of what I believe the former president tried to depict as a brown menace at our border. None of this, none of it is new and it is not isolated.
Some 12,000 souls are living in makeshift camps under the Del Rio bridge in Texas. They aren’t hiding. They're looking for asylum in this country.
(…)
9:41:51 p.m. Eastern
PRESS SEC. JEN PSAKI: I've seen some of the footage. I don't have the full context. I can't imagine what context would make that appropriate. But I don't have additional details. And certainly, I don't have additional context, April. I don't think anyone that seen that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate.
CUOMO: Well, somebody did. Right? Because that's how they decided to deal with the situation. So, the question becomes get to the bottom of it. Find out who said it was okay. Why was it okay? Tell us.
The statement from DHS says they don't, quote, “tolerate the abuse of migrants in our custody and we take these allegations very seriously.” That’s called a stock statement. What else are they going to say? They also say they're investigating and will have people on scene to make sure their rules are being followed. What are the rules?
But this is more than a picture; it's a reality. People crossing, clinging to food. That's what they're holding over their heads. It’s food. Not bags of drugs [In a mocking tone].
The agents trying to turn them around and send them back across the border. Look, that is their job. But it's – what is being done to allow this country to process the need. We can't do better than horseback?
You see the video. But you need to see the confluence. All right? Everything going on at once. All captured in this one image. Okay? See the horse. Their use is common and necessary along this part of the border.
The horse is there because a wall was never going to be enough. Sounded simple. Because it was simplistic. We were never a wall away. We’ve spent billions on technology, drones, helicopters, sensors, blimps, cameras. Even, yes, fencing. But given the terrain, the work of patrolling often has to be done on horseback.
Look at the agent's face. What do you see? Frustration. Anger. They've been put in a bad position. They are overwhelmed. The system is overwhelmed.
(…)
9:44:50 p.m. Eastern
Nobody wants to do the hard work. They just want to pander to “don't you care about these people. Look how they're being treated.” And the other side says, “Do you really want these people coming to take your jobs and kill your women?” And we're stuck there.
(…)
