Univision senior anchor Jorge Ramos doesn’t even bother to contain his biases anymore, as shown on a recent segment of Univision’s Sunday political affairs show Al Punto.
Watch as Ramos asks an immigration advocate whether a wall would work, and then agrees sotto voce with the advocate’s answer:
JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Cristina, does the wall work? Many Democrats and many Members of Congress had at one time voted for a border wall, there are currently 700 miles of wall along the border. Why not give President Trump the other 234 miles he’s asking for?
CRISTINA JIMÉNEZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNITED WE DREAM: Because it is now clear, Jorge, that this debate is about much more than the wall. This debate has become an anti-immigrant debate, and the wall is a symbol of that sentiment of hatred and of a totally anti-immigrant agenda. So as we see yet again, this president doesn’t just want a wall. He wants many other things such as deportation agents, he wants to keep these children incarcerated and separate families, and so…
RAMOS: Agreed.
JIMÉNEZ: ...we can’t allow ourselves to be deceived by this president.
RAMOS: Cristina Jiménez, thank you for joining us. Cristina Jiménez is, of course, the co-founder and director of United We Dream. Thank you.
JIMÉNEZ: Thank you, Jorge.
The devil’s advocate question is a common tactic of Ramos’. In lieu of open editorializing, Ramos often gets his own opinion across by asking his guests a question intended to steer them into expressing that opinion as a response.
Here’s an example from the recent archives, and recall the time that Ramos asked Beto O’Rourke whether Ted Cruz was a race traitor:
JORGE RAMOS, HOST, AL PUNTO: You have challenged Senator Ted Cruz to six debates, two of them in Spanish. Senator Cruz, with a touch of humor, has said that it would be very boring because he doesn’t speak Spanish very well. But if you won’t be able to debate with Senator Cruz, my question is: Do you believe that Senator Ted Cruz has betrayed other Latinos...other Latinos like him?
CONGRESSMAN ROBERT “BETO” O’ROURKE (D-TX): First, I think that it is very important to listen to all the people in this state. We can’t serve or represent the people of Texas if we can’t listen in their language...in Spanish or in English. We are a state- we are a country of two languages. And we need to understand- it is important to also show the respect that each person deserves in this country.
RAMOS: The question is about Ted Cruz. Do you believe that Ted Cruz has betrayed Latinos?
O’ROURKE: For example, he wants to deport the Dreamers. He wants to build a wall that will cost $30 billion at a time when we have border security. I believe that he does not represent Latinos - the people of Texas.
Now we know that this is what Ramos actually believes because he actually said so, in a column. The difference lies in that Ramos was able to keep himself together, despite Beto not taking his bait.
In this instance, we know that Ramos shares Jimenez' thoughts regarding the wall because, again, he said so in a column. The main difference here is that Ramos couldn't keep from muttering agreement as Jiménez slammed the wall/fence as a racist symbol.
How much longer before Ramos dumps the pretense and goes full advocate on Al Punto?
