It didn't take the liberal media long to come up with their lines of attack against President Trump for ordering last Saturday morning's invasion of Venezuela, which resulted in the capture and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas. One is the focus on the legality of the attack. Another popular one is that the attack does not fit the definition of 'America First'.
During Sunday's edition of CNN's State Of The Union, Host Dana Bash seemed obsessed with portraying the military operation as a blatant violation of what she believes Trump promised the American people, as she pressed her guest, House Judiciary Committee Chair, Republican Jim Jordan over and over again on this.
Before introducing Jordan, she read a quote from former Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said the attack was, "What many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy, were we wrong." Bash then immediately set the tone.
BASH: One of the things that I know that you know, the President's supporters absolutely love is that he has been arguing since he first ran 10 years ago that he's going to end forever wars and put America first.
JORDAN: Yes.
BASH: Now he says he's running Venezuela, he's totally open to putting boots back on the ground there, and he's signaling that Cuba and Colombia could be next. How is that America first?
JORDAN:..I think, when you have a guy who's not recognized as a head of state, who's head of a narco-terrorist criminal operation, who's cozying up to Iran and China, and he's doing it right here in our hemisphere, bringing that individual to justice, I think that's a good thing. Most Americans think that's a good thing.
Not nearly good enough for Bash.
BASH: But, again, cozying up to China and Iran, talking about what matters on the world stage, is different from what most people who voted for Donald Trump heard him say, which is, I'm going to focus on Americans. I'm going to focus on groceries. I'm going to put American dollars back here.
JORDAN: And President Trump has done that. President Trump said he'd cut taxes. He did. President Trump said he'd secure the border. He did. President Trump said he'd get men out of women's sports. He did. President Trump has said he'd lower gas prices. He did. President Trump said he'd make sure Iran didn't get nuclear capability. He did...
BASH: Yes, but let's move forward.
But Jordan wasn't finished educating Bash, which is probably why she had indicated she had heard enough.
JORDAN: He did all those things in one year's time. That is certainly making America great again.. That is certainly consistent with what he said. And getting a bad guy brought to justice who's had a five-year arrest warrant, that is certainly consistent with that theme and that message as well.
BASH: How are they going to feel about the fact that he, the President, said that America is committed to rebuilding Venezuela, particularly the oil fields, spending money to do that, not necessarily at home?
Of course the President said that U.S. oil companies will invest billions of dollars in Venezuela. How could she not know that? Jordan again, set her straight.
JORDAN: ..I think Americans recognize, when that country took assets that belonged to American companies, that's wrong. That's all President Trump is saying is going to change in the future relative to oil. I think that makes sense. They took property from American companies.. I think that's consistent with putting American interests first, which is what the president has talked about since he first came down the escalator 10 years ago.
Then Bash came up with a different angle.
BASH: But he's also not ruling out putting boots back on the ground in Venezuela. He said that we, the United States, the people behind him (On the podium at the press conference) are now in charge of Venezuela. That is definitely not what people thought he meant when he said America first.
JORDAN: ..We will see. We don't know what that exactly means. But what we do know is, President Trump's track record at getting results is, I think, stellar...
Seemingly nothing Jordan could say would move Bash off of her chosen narrative.
BASH: I do want to ask more about kind of what the President's mind-set is with regard to policy right now. He explicitly redefined America first in his press conference yesterday. For a long time, again, people thought it meant spending American taxpayer dollars not on foreign wars, not on foreign countries, but at home.
JORDAN: That's consistent with the Constitution. That's consistent with the War Powers Act. And, most importantly, I think it's consistent with history.
BASH: But it's not consistent with what he has said as a candidate.
JORDAN: I think Americans appreciate a Commander in Chief who demonstrates strength, shows strength and takes decisive action.
Chairman Jordan was doing his best to respond in an informative and comprehensive manner to all of Bash's questions, but if the questioner predetermines that no answer will be good enough, then it's like banging your head against a wall. It's a good bet the narratives will be repeated for the foreseeable future.
