Media

Democrats And Media Fall For Old, Deceptively Edited Clip Of Trump On MS-13

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Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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Democrats and members of the establishment media fell for a viral clip purporting that President Donald Trump called asylum seekers “animals” on Friday at an immigration roundtable.

In reality, the clip in question is from an event in May 2018 when the president was clearly referring to members of the MS-13 gang as “animals.” At the time, CSPAN posted a deceptively edited clip that cut out someone else’s remark about MS-13 that the president responded to, making it sound like Trump was talking about immigrants more generally. (RELATED: Media Falsely Accuses Trump Of Calling MS-13 Animals)

The shortened clip was reposted on Friday by Twitter user Mark Elliot, who falsely claimed that the president was referring to “people asking for asylum” and did not indicate that Trump’s remarks were not new.

“We have people coming into the country…You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals,” Trump said in the video.

The fact that Trump held an immigration roundtable on Friday in Texas only added to the confusion of people who believed the remarks were said recently. Just as many members of the media fell for the old CSPAN clip last May, a number of Democrats, journalists, and pundits began tweeting angrily about the president’s “new” comments.

Ben Rhodes, former Obama administration official:

Ben Rhodes (Twitter Screenshot)

Ben Rhodes (Twitter Screenshot)

Judd Apatow, filmmaker, and Chris Hayes, MSNBC host: 

Judd Apatow, Chris Hayes (Twitter Screenshot)

Judd Apatow, Chris Hayes (Twitter Screenshot)

Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate: 

Pete Buttigieg (Twitter Screenshot)

Pete Buttigieg (Twitter Screenshot)

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate: 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (Twitter Screenshot)

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (Twitter Screenshot)

Tony Posnanski, comedian: 

Tony Ponsanski (Twitter Screenshot)

Tony Posnanski (Twitter Screenshot)

Andrew Kimmel, producer: 

Andrew Kimmel (Twitter Screenshot)

Andrew Kimmel (Twitter Screenshot)

Brian Klaas, professor and Washington Post columnist: 

Brian Klaas (Twitter Screenshot)

Brian Klaas (Twitter Screenshot)

Ana Navarro, CNN contributor and ‘The View’ cohost: 

Ana Navarro (Twitter Screenshot)

Ana Navarro (Twitter Screenshot)

Jamelle Bouie, New York Times columnist: 

Jamelle Bouie (Twitter Screenshot)

Jamelle Bouie (Twitter Screenshot)

Elie Mystal, Above the Law editor: 

Elie Mystal (Twitter Screenshot)

Elie Mystal (Twitter Screenshot)

Journalist Yashar Ali attempted to clear up the misconceptions about the viral video and noted that even Snopes determined in May 2018 that the president was talking about MS-13.

The president made clear in a separate instance last May that he was referring to the violent El Salvadoran gang, telling a reporter, “I’m referring to the MS-13 gangs that are coming in. If you look a little bit further on in the tape, you’ll see that.”

“So I’m actually surprised you’re asking this question because most people got it right,” Trump said. “MS-13, these are animals.”

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