To close out CBS Evening News Wednesday night, the network acted as though the White House’s rewrite of the President’s travel restrictions were to cut America off from the world. “What this refugee wants the president to know before he closes the door to America,” announced sit-in anchor Anthony Mason during the opening tease. CBS’s Mark Strassmann sat down with four teenage Somali refugees and used them as props as he pushed them to talk about how America was changing for the worse.
“Do you think the President and his team understand what it is to be a refugee,” Strassman asked, as the first questioned aired. “Absolutely they don't, you know. They don't really think about who they're affecting. You leave everything in your old country just to get here, and then it's like a slap in the face,” 17-year-old Zeytun Tobe told him.
One girl named, Hamdi Abdi explained to Strassmann that Trump had tarnished her positive image of America:
I felt like America was like you had many opportunities. There's always money and everyone's happy. And you actually meet humans and no one would actually really want to kill you. So that's what I actually thought it was. Then when you came you had Trump, and he's-- he's him. But I guess ideas changed of what I thought America would be.
Strassmann also lectured viewers on the dangers present in their country of origin. “More than 100,000 Somali refugees have fled to the U.S. since 1991,” he noted, “They escaped decades of civil war, famine, and Islamic extremism.” But he didn’t mention that the Obama administration had selected Somalia, and the other countries named in the order partly because it is hard to verify personal documentation because of those weak governments.
“Has this issue changed your view about what America represents,” was Strassmann’s next question to the group. But it’s a rather silly question to ask since the Trump’s order only allows for the restrictions to be active for 120 days at most as the administration get a handle on the process. It’s a little hyperbolic to insinuate that such a short lasting policy is altering the fundamental makeup of America.
But the question seemed to get Strassmann the answers he was looking for, strong criticism of Trump and America. “You're the leader. You should actually lead with some respect and dignity,” Abdi said to Trump. Tobe recalled that around the world America was taught to be the place for hope, “But now you see that, you know, they've changed their-- their core ideals, what they believed in.”
This segment is just another example of the liberal media fanning the flames of fear that America is going to lose itself under Trump. It also pushes a mischaracterization of the travel restrictions without a proper explanation of what the order could entail and why the White House feels that it should be in place. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they sow fear and then sow more fear by showing fearful people.
Transcript below:
CBS Evening News
February 22, 2017
6:30:47 PM Eastern[Tease]
ANTHONY MASON: What this refugee wants the president to know before he closes the door to America.
ZEYTUN TOBE: All over the world, it's taught to be the country where people who have no hope, that's where they go.
6:56:09 PM Eastern
MASON: The Trump administration is still re-writing the executive order that would temporarily close America's doors to refugees. Courts blocked the first version. The ban is part of the President's plan for fighting terrorism, but Mark Strassmann talked to some teenage immigrants who think Mr. Trump should reconsider.
[Cuts to video]
ABBE TOBE: America’s the savior. You know, there's always a second chance.
MARK STRASSMANN: As a nation of second chances, America welcomed these young Somali war refugees. 18-year-old Abba Tobe and his 17-year-old sister, Zeytun came here seven years ago. Do you think the President and his team understand what it is to be a refugee?
ABBE: No.
ZEYTUN: Absolutely they don't, you know. They don't really think about who they're affecting. You leave everything in your old country just to get here, and then it's like a slap in the face.
ABBE: Exactly.
ZEYTUN: They don't understand how hard it is.
STRASSMANN: More than 100,000 Somali refugees have fled to the U.S. since 1991. They escaped decades of civil war, famine, and Islamic extremism. 15-year-old Shadia Saeed was born here after her parents fled that war. 18-year-old Hamdi Abdi arrived a year ago.
HAMDI ABDI: I felt like America was like you had many opportunities. There's always money and everyone's happy. And you actually meet humans and no one would actually really want to kill you. So that's what I actually thought it was. Then when you came you had Trump, and he's-- he's him. But I guess ideas changed of what I thought America would be.
SHADIA SAEED: Most of us are looking for a second chance, you know. And I felt like as if he just-- just was like, "Oh, all Muslims are bad," you know.
STRASSMANN: Has this issue changed your view about what America represents?
ABDI: Since the U.S. is a country of liberty, freedom and such, and then you ban all these countries that have weak economies and weak governments and no one's there to help. Whatever the U.S. Does affects every other country. You're the leader. You should actually lead with some respect and dignity.
ZEYTUN: All over the world, it's taught to be the country where people who have no hope, that's where they go. But now you see that, you know, they've changed their-- their core ideals what they believed in. So they're losing that special thing that they had for people all over the world.
STRASSMANN: If you had the chance to talk to President Trump about this, what would you say?
ABBE: I would say you need to be more understanding of others, not just yourself. Try to put yourself in other people's shoes.
ABDI: Islam is not the enemy. All the Muslim countries are not the enemy. Alienating all these other countries will not help you in the long run.
STRASSMANN: Mark Strassmann, CBS News, Clarkston, Georgia.
