CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan will be taking on a bigger "breaking news" role soon on the CBS Evening News. Is that a mistake? Because on her Sunday show, she asked Newt Gingrich if Donald Trump putting a strict limit on refugees to America would block the next Albert Einstein.
Last year, Brennan outraged Republicans by "fact checking" J.D. Vance at the vice presidential debate, and cutting off his mike. CBS had promised they would not do that -- in part because they have a nasty tendency to debate Republicans instead of moderate. They couldn't help themselves.
Gingrich and his wife Callista made a documentary for PBS that airs this week titled Journey to America celebrating the contributions of legal immigrants and refugees. So CBS made it about Trump:
MARGARET BRENNAN: In this documentary, you tell the stories of these individuals who immigrated to the U.S. And they were very successful people, like Albert Einstein. You know, when you look at Einstein and you look at Henry Kissinger, they were refugees to this country. Donald Trump set refugee admissions at very low levels first term. He's talking about block refugee admissions this term. Is that a mistake?
CBS’s @MargBrennan to @NewtGingrich: Einstein and Kissinger “were refugees to this country. Donald Trump set refugee admissions at very low levels first term. He’s talking about blocking refugee admissions this term. Is that a mistake?” #FTN pic.twitter.com/f7MDHfLx1E
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) January 13, 2025
So Newt made it about Biden:
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I think - I think we're going through a period of, frankly, reacting to an extraordinarily disastrous immigration policy, so you're going to have some twists and turns. In the long run, we do want to have an ability to allow legitimate refugees to come here. We also, and part of the reason Callista and I made this documentary for PBS is, we really believe strongly that legal immigrants are a major contribution to America's success and to its exceptional nature.
And we want to make sure that, you know, as many Americans favor legal immigration as oppose to illegal immigration. It's very important to distinguish the two. And we want to strongly communicate that legal immigration in a variety of forms, refugees is one, another is various work permits, but we want people to be able to come to America if they do so legally.
Opinion polls always find support for legal immigration, for people who go through a legal process, as opposed to people who are illegal immigrants. People also favor refugees from dire situations, such as people who aided the American forces in Afghanistan. But some people claiming refugee status also commit murders and rapes, so if limits might prevent an Einstein, they also might save a life. Brennan kept pressing:
BRENNAN: You said immigrants inhabit the very soul of what it is to be an American. When you say legitimate refugees, what do you mean?
GINGRICH: Well, I think people can stand up and say, I have now decided I'm a refugee, I feel threatened. The question is, is it true or not? Are they really threatened? Or, in fact, is that just their way of getting into the United States? I think there's a big difference between somebody who genuinely faces a potential loss of life or freedom and somebody who simply wants to come to America and decides to claim that status.
The Gingrich documentary lines up immigrants with our "founding principles," and the liberal networks don't believe in the founding principles, and aren't concerned when we welcome immigrants and refugees who are openly hostile to our country.
