Following the failed assassination attempt against him over the weekend, former President Trump wanted the messaging of the Republican National Convention to adopt a message that was more unifying for the country. Of course, the likes of MSNBC wouldn’t be happy with any Republican messaging but they particularly didn’t appreciate the messaging of Wednesday’s Night Three when signs reading “mass deportation now” were handed out. The liberal outlet was aghast despite the fact a near super majority of American voters supported it.
“Rachel I think the story of this convention so far can actually be told in some measure through the signs that have been handed out. The campaign hands out signs every night and the messaging has changed somewhat,” report Jacob Soboroff explained to co-host Rachel Maddow.
He held up a series of signs to show the progression of the unifying messages, getting a shocked exclamation from Maddow on the last one:
SOBOROFF: So, “make America strong again,” one of the first ones to come out. “American oil from American soil,” theme of a previous evening and a little bit tonight. “Trump Vance,” when they announced the vice presidential pick. But tonight, the idea of issues that are going to unify the country sort of went out the window; “mass deportation now.”
MADDOW: Oh my god. Wow.
“In all seriousness, Rachel. It is part of the policy platform of this convention to create the largest deportation effort in American history. That’s verbatim,” he lamented.
After alluding to 1954’s Operation Wetback, “a name that is so offence and racist I can’t – I'm not comfortable saying it on television,” Soboroff warned: “The program that’s being proposed the Trump administration would be far bigger than that, bigger than anything we’ve seen and bigger that anything in the first Trump term.”
But while MSNBC was clutching their pearls and suggesting the Trump campaign was not living up to the promise of being unify with their “mass deportation now” messaging, a recent CBS News/YouGov poll showed it represented a large majority of registered voters, nearly a super majority.
In June, polling found 62 percent were in favor of mass deportations of “all undocumented immigrants.” “That isn't purely partisan, it includes a third of Democrats,” CBS wrote.
Adding: “A similarly sized majority would have local law enforcement try to identify those living in the U.S. illegally, and just under half support the idea of setting up large government detention centers to sort out which people ought to be deported.”
It’s also worth noting that Soboroff’s immigration reporting was at the center of a $30 million defamation suit against MSNBC.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC Republican National Convention
July 18, 2024
10:35:56 p.m. Eastern(…)
JACOB SOBOROFF: Rachel I think the story of this convention so far can actually be told in some measure through the signs that have been handed out. The campaign hands out signs every night and the messaging has changed somewhat. And I think that when we came in, in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump. I’m just going to go through them with you. I’m going to hold them up.
So, “make America strong again,” one of the first ones to come out. “American oil from American soil,” theme of a previous evening and a little bit tonight. “Trump Vance,” when they announced the vice presidential pick. But tonight, the idea of issues that are going to unify the country sort of went out the window; “mass deportation now.”
RACHEL MADDOW: Oh my god. Wow.
SOBOROFF: And I have shared this sign with some of my colleagues and I was actually going to give it back – because there is a woman, I'm not even joking, who said she wants to bring this home with her. I want to make sure I give it to her. Hold on for one second. Excuse me for one second. Ma'am, here is your sign, I promised I was going to give it back to you. Thank you.
[Maddow lets out a snarky laugh]
In all seriousness, Rachel. It is part of the policy platform of this convention to create the largest deportation effort in American history. That’s verbatim. And I know you, as a student of history, and forgive me to our viewers who might've heard me talk about this earlier in the evening, but for those tuning in at this late hour, I just I want to say, in 1954 after the Bracero Program where many Mexican guest workers were brought into this country, the Eisenhower administration deported, under an operation with a name that is so offence and racist I can’t – I'm not comfortable saying it on television, deported around 1 million Mexicans including some Mexican Americans.
The program that’s being proposed the Trump administration would be far bigger than that, bigger than anything we’ve seen and bigger that anything in the first Trump term. And now, these are the issues that are coming up here. We heard from Peter Navarro tonight, who had a more rapturous, rousing ovation from anyone else I've heard, and said things like there’s blood on the hands of Alejandro Mayorkas.
So, I heard Stephanie talking about it from the floor earlier. I just want to sort of throw may hat in the ring and say that the tone has changed considerably tonight
(…)
