Vice President Kamala Harris was quick to play the “race card” on the campaign trail, but as Peter Schweitzer asks, the real question is, “Who is telling the truth?”
In this presidential campaign, these are questions that, in the words of co-host Eric Eggers, are “hotter than a pager in Lebanon.”
A crazed former construction worker was accused of stalking former President Donald Trump on a golf course, but an alert Secret Service agent spotted his gun and fired defensive shots. The shooter, a former construction worker named Ryan Routh, was arrested nearby. He turned out to be a supporter of Trump's opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, having attended her rallies and donated to Democratic campaigns in recent years.
But mainstream media coverage has leaned toward blaming Trump and his violent rhetoric for the events that nearly led to her death. Even Harris, who publicly thanked the Secret Service for their actions, couldn't help but verbally criticize Trump for allegedly instigating Routh.
“The second assassination attempt is not the fault of the man found on Donald Trump's golf course, but it is actually the fault of Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, whose 'rhetoric' is inciting people,” Schweitzer said.
“This is a ridiculous approach. It's like saying, 'You deserve to beat your wife,'” Schweitzer said. “I mean, it's ridiculous. No one would make that claim in any other situation, but for some reason when it comes to Donald Trump, people feel comfortable making this point.”
Kamala Harris also has a history of making and amplifying false claims, Schweitzer noted. “Obviously, I think of the Jussie Smollett case,” he said. Smollett, a Black actor, created the hoax himself. Before it was exposed, Harris repeatedly blamed Trump supporters, which she called a “modern-day lynching.”
“She's wrong on a lot of ground,” Schweitzer continues, “and she also blamed the bomb threats against schools in Springfield, which the governor blamed on Trump.” Decided Not only was the threat a hoax from overseas, possibly Iran.”
“This is not the first time she has exaggerated the plight of Haitian migrants,” Eggers recalled, citing a story that has since been proven false about Border Patrol officers whipping Haitian migrants on horseback at the border.
All of this points out that this news is not about the real issues, but about arguing over controversial details to avoid taking a position on the real story. There is a cost to allowing all this, and this larger issue is ignored when the discussion shifts to arguments about how pets are eaten or the rhetorical tone of the candidates. Under the Biden administration, an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants have flowed into the United States. This does not include Haitian refugees like those in Springfield, who are here under “temporary” legal protection as refugees, fleeing the turmoil in their home countries.
Increasing immigration raises other issues, such as protecting voting rights. Many states that issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants also register them to vote that way. When a foreigner gets a license, it is his or her responsibility to self-declare that he or she is not a citizen and therefore ineligible to vote. As a result, several states have recently audited their voter rolls to find and remove thousands of foreigners from the voter rolls.
“My parents were legal immigrants,” Schweitzer says, “but it's important to me that [non-citizens] They are not stakeholders or citizens and should not have a say in government. So Virginia has 6,300 residents. [non-citizens] The ballots that were deleted were over 6,500 in Texas. Incidentally, these states could delete many more ballots, but they can't because Democrats are opposed to the SAVE Act, which is designed to make it even harder for foreigners to vote.”
For more articles by Peter Schweitzer, Drill Down Podcast.
