Univision anchor Jorge Ramos tried to shame a pro-life activist for not falling in line with the liberal line that all Hispanics should vote based on racial grievance. He was stopped cold, and then had to scramble and pitch some Biden talking points in a manner that makes his positions on abortion less extreme to Univision viewers. In other words: disinformation.
Watch part of the exchange between actor and prominent pro-life activist Eduardo Verástegui (click "Expand" to view full transcript):
JORGE RAMOS: I want to try to understand your decision. So, your support of Trump, then, has more to do with your opposition to abortion than what he has said about immigrants, or women, or his 20,000 lies according to The Washington Post?
EDUARDO VERASTEGUI: Jorge, it would...it would be immoral for me, as a pro-life activist, to vote for Biden- who supports abortion up to 9 months. I couldn't. It would- it goes against my conscience, I couldn't. But look…
RAMOS: Biden does not support abortion up to 9 months.
VERASTEGUI: He's said so himself on several occasions. Just like Kamala.
RAMOS: Not at...not at nine months. Not at nine months, Eduardo.
VERASTEGUI: I'll... Jorge of course (he did). He has said so on several occasions. In fact, (late-term) abortion was legalized in New York last year...nine months. And that really is the Democrats' true intention. To legalize abortion at 9 months throughout the entire country.
…
RAMOS: And as you saw, Eduardo and I argued over Biden's true position regarding abortion, and that's why we asked the campaign to clarify. Biden's campaign.
Joe Biden says that he is a practicing Catholic. He says that his religion defines who he is. Regarding abortion, he personally accepts the Church's position that life begins at conception. But he refuses to impose his point of view on others. That's why he supports the Roe v. Wade law that legalized abortion in 1973. Biden has voted for a ban on late-term abortion except when the mother's life is in danger. This is what was sent to us by Vice President Joe Biden's campaign.
The entire interview was built around the hostile frame that Ramos placed before Verástegui: how could he, per Ramos, support Trump’s re-election after all the mean things he’s said? That frame is intended to shame a Hispanic Trump supporter before the first substantive question is even asked, and to depict him to viewers as a race-traitor.
Above all else, this frame is utterly dishonest. Ramos knows full well that there are socially conservative Hispanics who give more weight to life and family issues than they do racial grievances. He said as much when he whined about it to Spain’s El Intermedio:
There are people that feel totally identified with this country, that believe the same things that Donald Trump believes. If you vote for someone, you partially resemble that. And also that, among Latinos, there are very conservative values that are commonly held with the Republican Party, President Trump’s party. The, the religious issue, the importance of family, the abortion issue. This explains, in part, why one out of three Hispanics vote for Donald Trump and is so conservative.
Furthermore, Ramos was dishonest when trying to move Verástegui off of the assertion that Biden supports late-term abortion. A basic fact-check, as opposed to a regurgitation of a carefully-crafted Biden campaign statement, would have proven that Biden has significantly moved to the left on abortion.
Note that Biden's campaign statement makes no mention of his support for re-repeal of the Mexico City Rule (which bans U.S. taxpayer funds being used to fund abortions overseas), and Biden’s promise to repeal the Hyde Amendment (which prohibits federal taxpayer funding of abortions). Here’s what Biden said as the United States Supreme Court struck down the Louisiana law that required abortion practitioners to have admitting privileges at a local hospital:
Women’s health care rights have been under attack as states across the country have passed extreme laws restricting women’s constitutional right to choice under any circumstance. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that states cannot put in place laws that unduly burden a women’s right to make her own health care decisions with her doctor.
But let’s be clear: Republicans in state legislatures will stop at nothing to get rid of Roe — and we have to be just as strong in our defense of it. They are trying to get these laws appealed to the Supreme Court in the hope that Trump’s justices will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s wrong. It’s pernicious. And, we have to stop it. As President, I will codify Roe v. Wade and my Justice Department will do everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate a woman’s protected, constitutional right to choose.
"Under any circumstance". Verástegui was right. And Ramos got caught.
This bit of grotesque disinformation was brought to you by Olay. Click here to find their information, and then let them know what you think. Then click here to read Media Research Center Founder and President L. Brent Bozell III's letter to the FCC in strong opposition to the proposed rule change that would allow Univision to become 100% foreign-owned.
