Sensing growing impatience over the government shutdown, President Donald Trump took to the airwaves. Broadcast in prime time, Trump spoke from the Oval Office, outlining the necessity for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. But as usual, the fake news brigade overshadowed his valid message.
The difference this time, though, was the fake news came from none other than Fox News. As the only network that doesn’t stoke the President’s vitriol, Trump also always finds refuge in the conservative-leaning outfit. Yet Fox News correspondent Shepard Smith had other ideas.
Breaking from the usual Republican-apologist talking point, Smith methodically took the Commander-in-Chief to task. When Trump claimed that violent immigrants “horribly victimized” “innocent people,” Smith brought in a broader perspective. The anchor claimed:
The government’s statistics show that there is less violent crime by the undocumented immigrant population than by the general population.
In another subsegment of Trump’s speech, the President claimed that the border wall could help stem the flow of narcotics. Specifically, he claimed that physically open borders present an unacceptable vulnerability.
Yet Smith had another angle to address this seemingly unassailable point. He stated:
Government statistics show much of the heroin actually comes not over the unguarded border but through ports of call.
Unfortunately, fake news is now permeating everywhere, with no network safe from its clutches.
Blatant Fake News Misrepresents Border Wall Agenda
This turn of events isn’t that shocking. Increasingly, Smith has adopted a more progressive stance in his politics. Actually, I’m surprised that Fox News tolerates him.
Nevertheless, I’d like to counter his arguments. First, when Smith stated that immigrants commit fewer crimes than the general population, he’s forwarding an obviously-expected outcome as insight. If immigrants committed more crimes disproportionate to their population size, the U.S. would collapse.
Furthermore, different immigrants have different criminal rates and propensities. If you don’t believe me, simply consider the criminality rate between Japanese-Americans and immigrants from Third World countries: that’s a red pill if there ever was one!
Second, government statistics may indeed show that most vulnerabilities occur in ports of call. However, that doesn’t address the vulnerabilities that open borders pose.
Truly, we’re talking about a logical fallacy – the very essence of fake news. Smith suggests that Trump’s focus on “problem A” is invalid because “problem B” is bigger. Even conceding that point, the overriding reality is that both A and B are problems.
Ignoring one doesn’t make the other go away. Sadly, this is the state we’re in: keep repeating a tired narrative and eventually, people will believe it.