For days and days, defenders of President Trump’s policy of family separation at the border conceded that the situation wasn’t optimal. That separating children from their parents was awful, something that nobody wanted to see. Unfortunate but necessary under U.S. law — that was the false posture that made at least a halfhearted nod to human decency.
Then came Brian Kilmeade. This co-host of “Fox & Friends,” the morning program that’ll say anything to defend Trump, decided to add a new codicil to the doctrine of “America First.” In a discussion with his colleagues Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt, Kilmeade riffed on the president’s good works:
Somebody has to deal with this issue; it doesn’t matter who the president is. He’s trying to send a message to the other countries: This is not the way you do it because this is a country that has rules and laws. The port of entry would be one thing, if we can bolster those laws. But we just can’t let everybody in that wants to be here. And these are not, like it or not, these aren’t our kids — show them compassion. But it’s not like he’s doing this to the people of Idaho or uh, or uh, or uh Texas. These are people from another country, and now people are saying that they’re more important than people in our country who are paying taxes and have needs as well.
Some points: Who are the people saying that the migrant children are more important? We’ve asked Fox News for a list. (And contrary to Kilmeade’s suggestion, undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes.)
The evil of Kilmeade’s remarks was immediately clear, yet neither of his colleagues appeared to take issue. The core mission of serving the president prevailed. Kilmeade raved about a story in which a Border Patrol agent rescued a 6-year-old in the desert who’d been abandoned by a smuggler. “In many cases, they might be safer. If we know where they are, we’re able to place them with the right families, or put them back together with their moms or their dads,” Earhardt said, referring to an administration that has just ripped more than 2,000 children from their parents, with no robust procedures for reuniting them. What marvelous propaganda.
Remember when Kilmeade joked about the video of former NFL running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee in an elevator of an Atlantic City hotel? “I think the message is, take the stairs,” Kilmeade said. Like that utterance, this one is abhorrent on its face. Its only merit is anthropological, in that it showcases the mind of a “thought” leader in Trump’s America.
UPDATE: Kilmeade has addressed the matter on radio and on Twitter: