January 21, 2018

CBS' John Dickerson called out Mick Mulvaney, Trump's OMB director for now defending their 'merit-based' immigration policy when previously he told Bloomberg News that that system moves the country towards "xenophobia."

Trump and his hardliners on immigration have now tried to implement a "merit-based" system of immigration to deflect away from their attacks on people hoping to come here from what Trump describes as "shithole" countries.

The Face The Nation host forced the OMB director to try and defend his flip-flop on that issue since becoming part of the Trump administration.

Dickerson said, "The attorney general said this this week. 'What good does it do to bring in somebody who is illiterate in their own country, has no skills, and is going to struggle in our new country and not be successful?' In 2015, Dave Weigel, who was then with Bloomberg, interviewed you."

He continued, "And you said, 'I've heard a lot of arguments about unskilled labor. But if that were the case, my family would not have gotten in here from Ireland. They were unskilled workers, and they helped build this country. It's not quite xenophobia,' you said, 'but it's moving that way.' Are we moving toward xenophobia in the way this is being talked about?"

mick_mulvaney_2015_xenophobia

His excuses were ridiculous as you might have expected. And it flies in the very concept of the American dream that this country has been built on.

Not too mention that, like their bogus 'confidence fairy' theory on economics, it's moronic and unenforceable.

Mulvaney replied, "I think what we're moving towards is a recognition that the immigration system of the 21st century in the United States needs to be different than it was in the 19th century when my family came here. Every other developed nation now has a system where you have to show merit. You have to show that you're going to contribute to the economy."

"In fact, even if you go back to the 19th century when my folks came in and I think yours did as well, they had to have a certificate that said they would not be wards of the state. And I think that's what we're trying to get back to. The point where we want folks who will contribute to the economy. That's why we want to move away from chain migration and over towards a merit-based system."

In other words, blah, blah, blah. People trying to immigrate here want to contribute to society because they want a better life.

Dickerson responded, "But when you said this in 2015, it wasn't the 19th century. So you were making a claim about the tenor of things. And some people are worried that things have ended up right exactly as you predicted in 2015, with a message of xenophobia rather than a traditionally welcoming American message."

Mulvaney ducked his question entirely and said, "We are interested in folks coming into this country who can contribute. I don't think that ever qualifies as xenophobia."

It does qualify as xenophobia because Mulvaney himself admitted it in 2015.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon