As he tossed over to CNN Tonight host Don Lemon, CNN host Chris Cuomo engaged in a conversation with Lemon about the death of an illegal immigrant and his daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande on a journey to the United States. Most of their back-and-forth basically consisted of trashing the Trump administration and anyone who dares to think that people seeking to enter the United States should come legally.
Lemon said “people are coming over and risking their lives because they want to have a better life. They want to have what America offers.” Lemon proceeded to complain that people “twist this...into they shouldn’t be bringing their kids over anyway.” Lemon directed a message to people who feel that way: “If you’re saying that to yourself, what a terrible sentiment to have. Get on your knees tonight and ask for guidance how to feel about this issue and ask God to soften your heart; or to at least speak to you about who you have become as a human being.”
Cuomo told Lemon “I get the big stick...I get the xenophobia, I get the fear of someone saying I'll tell you why things are harder for you. I’ll tell you why it’s harder to make ends meet...it’s because we’re taking care of people like this.” Lemon denounced that argument as “bullsh*t” and called it as an example of “people who are trading on fear for political purposes.” Cuomo responded: “it works. That’s what being a demagogue is all about.”
Towards the end of the conversation, Cuomo asked “if you’re worried about people being here the wrong way, why aren’t we at the airports lined up right now because they’re overstaying visas as much as they walk across?” Lemon answered: “because they’re not brown. They’re not the brown menace...People who come over from airplanes look like him.”
So in other words, according to Lemon, President Trump only opposes illegal crossings into the United States because of the skin color of the migrants. Not surprisingly, others in the media had the exact same analysis; The View’s Joy Behar asked “if those kids were from Norway, would this be happening?”
Cuomo also complained that White House adviser Stephen Miller did not yield to the poem at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty when making immigration policy: “When Stephen Miller said, you know, those words on the Statue of Liberty; that’s not American policy…I’ve never heard anything like that before. Lady Liberty stands on the pedestal; the basis of her existence are those words.”
The conversation came to a close with Cuomo offering a word of advice to the Democratic presidential candidates: “if I were advising any of these men and women tomorrow night, you want to show that you’re better than.” The topic of immigration will probably come up at the Democratic presidential debate but only as an excuse to trash President Trump.
A transcript of the relevant portion of Tuesday’s edition of CNN Tonight is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CNN Tonight With Don Lemon
06/25/19
10:01 PM
DON LEMON: When I first saw it, I said this can’t…please tell me this is not real. This is not real. And then the alert came out from CNN and it’s…it’s real. I cannot believe…You asked the same question that I asked, that I have been asking people all night. Who are we? Who are we as a people to sit and judge people who are trying to come across for better lives and better conditions? And to cast most of them or all of them in a light that they’re trying to get something free or that they’re breaking the law. Sure, there are people who come over illegally. Sure there are people who come over with…who have untoward intentions. But for the most part, people are coming over and risking their lives because they want to have a better life. They want to have what America offers; what America offered you. And what it has offered, at least in the recent past, to people like me. And so, I don’t understand who we are. I don’t know and I don’t know how anybody can twist this…this into they shouldn’t be bringing their kids over anyway. If you’re saying that to yourself, what a terrible sentiment to have. Get on your knees tonight and ask for guidance on how to feel about this issue and ask God to soften your heart, or to at least speak to you about who you have become as a human being.
CHRIS CUOMO: And look, they don’t even have to let them all in.
LEMON: If you cannot look at that picture and not…and not, and stop saying that people are coming over who are seeking asylum; that it’s illegal. No, that’s what our Constitution says.
CUOMO: You’re allowed to come and ask.
LEMON: You’re allowed to come.
CUOMO: A lot of them aren’t going to make the grade but all I’m saying is this. You know, look, I get the politics of it. This is not a complicated situation.
LEMON: I don’t get the politics of it. I don’t get it.
CUOMO: And I get the big stick. I get the big stick. Well, look, I get the xenophobia, I get the fear of someone saying I’ll tell you why things are harder for you. I’ll tell you why it’s harder to make ends meet and for send your kids and give them the life you want is because we’re taking care of people like this.
LEMON: That’s bullshit.
CUOMO: What I’m saying is you don’t even have to let them in.
LEMON: That’s bullshit.
CUOMO: It’s how you treat people you won’t let in. That’s what I’m saying.
LEMON: Chris, you know that’s not right. You know that’s not right. You can’t say my, my, you know, oh, it’s harder for you to…because somebody else is coming in. No. It doesn’t…that’s not how it works. That is just not how it works. That is a lie. That is people who are trading on fear for political purposes. And…
CUOMO: Yeah because it works. That’s what being a demagogue is all about, brother. You know, you’re not going to have people who come running around because you’re giving them messages of hope and love all the time. When you hit somebody where they’re scared, when you hit somebody where they’re angry, that’s powerful medicine in politics. I keep telling you this President is no fool. He picked this issue for a reason. It works to motivate his base. In fact, I think it works better than any other issue. My problem is is that he’s perverted it for that convenience. And that’s why he doesn’t talk about the fact that you say all the time on your show that if you’re so worried about people being here the wrong way, why aren’t we at the airports lined up right now because they’re overstaying visas as much as they walk across?
LEMON: Because they’re not brown. They’re not the brown menace, as he…
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Here they come. Here they come. They’re coming for your jobs and your women.
LEMON: Because it’s…people who come over from airplanes look like him…
CUOMO: But I’ll tell you, when we get to a point, man, when we get to a point man where you look at a dead kid and a daddy and you say that’s on them. That’s a cold place that I don’t want to be and I don’t get it. When Stephen Miller said, you know, those words on the Statue of Liberty, that’s not American policy. Man, did that…I have never heard anything like that before. Lady Liberty stands on the pedestal. The basis of her existence are those words. I just think that if I were, you know, if I were advising any of these men and women tomorrow night, you want to show that you’re better than.
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: You want to show that you’re more than.
LEMON: Tell them what you’re going to do about that.
CUOMO: Own this. Own this.
