The second GOP presidential debate on Fox Business took an odd turn to the Left in the questions of Univision anchor Ilia Calderon, who pressed the candidates like an MSNBC host on guns, fentanyl, '"dreamers," LGBTQ issues, and Florida's black history curriculum. The woman who co-anchors with leftist Jorge Ramos sounded like a Ramos echo.
Associate Editor Nick Fondacaro joined the show after he blogged the Calderon performance. The "starting gun" of these questions included the assertion “Mental health concerns are not unique to United States. But gun violence is.” That's not true if you look south to Latin American statistics.
She told Vivek Ramaswamy the fentanyl crisis had an American face: "Fifty-seven percent of the smugglers are U.S. citizens. How would you stop Fentanyl brought into the country, mostly by U.S. citizens through ports of entry?"
Calderon went after Ron DeSantis with a quote plucked out of a massive report by the Democrats.
Florida’s new black history curriculum says, quote, “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” You have said slaves developed skills in spite of slavery, not because of it. But many are still hurt. For descendants of slaves, this is personal. What is your message to them?
DeSantis called that a "hoax" in that context, in that no one is going to be asked to teach "the benefits of slavery." This is why Fox host Greg Gutfeld quipped these questions "could have been written by Keith Olbermann, if he could still write."
Calderon tried to corner Mike Pence on "intensifying" violence against the "LGBTQ community," suggesting these people are "nine times more likely to be victims of violent hate crimes. As president, how would you protect this committee from violent attacks and discrimination?"
The anchor for a Mexican-owned TV network pushed Nikki Haley about a military solution to border incursions:
Mexico's president called who supports sending U.S. military into the country, quote, “scoundrels.” Mexico is the United States' most important trade partner in border security. You say you will send special operations to attacked the cartels Mexico. So, this means boots on the ground, drone strikes?
As Nick noted, our MRC Latino expert Jorge Bonilla predicted this: "Expect Calderón to ask questions on immigration, gun control, and other items from the left-wing policy pupu platter." Jorge added that Univision should not be seen as a representative for America's Hispanics. Polling shows the opposite. Only 31 percent trust corporate media.
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