At a Wednesday White House meeting with law enforcement officials from California, President Donald Trump called members of the violent gang MS-13 “animals.”
His comment, in the middle of a discussion of the gang, was taken out of context by liberal journalists and spun to be about all illegal aliens. Since then, many of those journalists have continued to try to spin the President’s words to make them about race, even going so far as defending members of the violent gang known for their gruesome murders.
John Harwood, a reporter at CNBC who was exposed by WikiLeaks as favoring Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, too issue with the term “animals” to describe MS-13.
however repugnant their actions, MS-13 gang members are human beings IMHO
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 17, 2018
horrific crimes committed by human beings
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 17, 2018
The use of the term “animals” was a metaphor, the President was not declaring them literal animals, as Harwood appears to be implying.
CNN political analyst Ryan Lizza tweeted an incomplete, out-of-context CSPAN video of the President making the remarks and declared the President was “dehumanizing” MS-13 members.
This is called dehumanization. When people start being seen as rats/roaches/animals very bad things can happen. That an American President made this comment is abhorrent beyond belief. https://t.co/Cy5ANeXsta
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 16, 2018
Lizza then retweeted a thread by liberal immigration activist Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute that called Trump racist for the comments and claimed they were about all immigrants. Lizza added, “Read this thread if you think ‘he was talking about MS-13!’ is a meaningful response to Trump’s disgusting comment yesterday.”
Read this thread if you think “he was talking about MS-13!” is a meaningful response to Trump’s disgusting comment yesterday. https://t.co/2ZS7OAwyUz
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 17, 2018
When the President’s comments are given their full context, it is clear he was speaking about MS-13 gang members and not immigrants as a whole.
MUST WATCH and RT: Trump calls MS-13 animals… not immigrants in general. This clip was cut and taken out of context to make him look like he’s calling all people crossing the border animals. pic.twitter.com/9KmIYgemME
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) May 17, 2018
The context did not seem to matter to Harwood and Lizza.
MS-13 has been implicated in hundreds of murders, including the beheading of a man near DC who also had his heart ripped from his chest and the murder of a 15-year-old girl who was stabbed 13 times.
