Friday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh praised President Donald Trump’s reported proposal to release Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in so-called sanctuary cities.
Trump later acknowledged he was seriously considering the proposal on social media.
Partial transcript as follows (courtesy of RushLimbaugh.com):
LIMBAUGH: Folks, there is a story out there today that I just love. And the story is being pooh-poohed. And it’s disappointing that it’s being pooh-poohed to me. Here’s the headline: “White House Proposed Releasing Immigrant Detainees in Sanctuary Cities, Targeting Political Foes.”
Now, what this is, the Washington Post claims to have seen some memos from the Department of the Homeland Security where White House officials — i.e., Stephen Miller — supposedly tried to pressure immigration authorities to release detained illegal aliens onto the streets of sanctuary cities.
What a great idea! They say they love them, they say they want them, they’ve got their borders open, so send them there. What a great idea! The Washington Post claims it was planned as a way to retaliate against Trump’s political adversaries. Even better! Even better. This is exactly the kind of stuff we’re up against each and every. What a great idea.
And it is so perfectly Trumpian! The plan was to send some of them to Pelosi’s San Francisco district. I mean, you… (Snort!) It’s the kind of idea I’m jealous I didn’t come up with it, the kind of policy suggestion that I regret I didn’t think of. But then you read further and it kind of depresses you. The Washington Post is just trying to make a scandal out of a blue-sky idea. They’re blue-skying ideas. The idea apparently was “briefly floated” and then it was “quickly rejected,” which is just disappointing as it can be to me.
Now, if you drill down eight or so paragraphs into this Washington Post story (it’s about a couple thousand words), you will see that the Washington Post grudgingly admits that a White House official and a Department of Homeland Security spokesman wrote to them to say the plan was just a suggestion, that was floated and it was quickly dismissed. The Post in its story, in other words, admits it was never a real thing — it was just of people making blue-sky suggestions — and yet, they have made an entire story out of the fact being it was real.
In their headline: “White House Proposed Releasing Immigrant Detainees in Sanctuary Cities, Targeting Political Foes.” They don’t propose anything. That’s the point. It never got to the proposal stage. They were just bandying things about. How many times have we seen this? The Washington Post, the New York Times do that with their supposedly bombshells. They write this dramatic headline, this dramatic two-paragraph lede, only eight or nine paragraphs later to undercut their own scoop by saying, “Ah, ah, never mind,” doing Emily Litella.
You wade even deeper into the article (which I did so that you don’t have to), and you’ll come across one of the most racist comments I have ever seen. Let me quote: “Pelosi’s office blasted the plan. ‘The extent of this administration’s cynicism and cruelty cannot be overstated,’ said Pelosi spokeswoman Ashley Etienne. ‘Using human beings — including little children — as pawns in their warped game to perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants is despicable.’”
Isn’t that an incredibly bigoted thing to say? Why should sending more “gifts of love” to sanctuary cities perpetuate fear? Pelosi calls them gifts of love! That’s what she called illegal immigrants! How in the world could sending people she calls gifts of love perpetuate fear? Especially sending ’em to sanctuary cities, which she adamantly supports — eagerly, wholeheartedly, and all that. How in the world can sending little gifts of love “perpetuate fear and demonize” anyone?
Why, I thought this’d be a win-win. I thought the sanctuary cities would welcome them. Isn’t that the way this is supposed to work? We have an immigration problem. We are being overrun. We’re being invaded. The Trump regime says, “Hey, there are some places in this country where these people are wanted. San Francisco is such a place. It’s a sanctuary city. Why, in fact, Nancy Pelosi has even referred to these people in the invasion as little gifts of love. Why not send them there?”
Why aren’t the people in the sanctuary cities applauding this? Why aren’t they saying, “Hey, we’ll take ’em”? How do we get a story in the Washington Post that this is somehow supposed to embarrass Trump’s political adversaries? What, does that mean they don’t really like these people? Does that mean they really don’t want these people? What are these sanctuary cities for if not to welcome these little gifts of love? (interruption) No, no, no. I’m not exaggerating here. I’m being dead serious.
(interruption) Yeah, it’s hypocritical. I know it never sticks to ’em, but the point needs to be made nevertheless. On the one hand, we have people like Pelosi and the liberal Democrats who set up sanctuary cities to shield these people from the evil Republicans and conservatives who want to deport them, right? They go so far as tell these people when ICE raids are coming so they can hide. They broadcast, they amplify, they let us know how much they love being sanctuary cities.
So when they see the story in the Washington Post that Trump wants to send these asylum-seeking illegals to their town, why didn’t they say, “Come on in! We’ll take ’em”? Why didn’t the Washington Post get a Pulitzer for this story? Instead, they turn this… (laughing) They’re turning this story into somehow sanctuary cities don’t want these people and if Trump did this, it would be one of the dirtiest political tricks since Richard Nixon. What dirty trick? They love these people in the sanctuary cities!
They’re little gifts of love. How is this even a controversy? Why, this ought to make these Democrats love Trump! He was gonna not deport ’em. He was gonna send them to their own cities. They should be calling the White House and saying, “You’re getting it, Don! You’re finally getting it. We love these people, and now it looks like you love ’em ’cause you want to send ’em to us.” Instead, we have a story where somehow this is nothing more than a bunch of racist, bigoted political dirty tricksterism.
“Targeting Trump’s political foes”? How can something that they support and want and eagerly ask for be targeting them? Why, it must mean that the sanctuary cities are not really what they tell us that they are, that they don’t really want these people and they’re not out to welcome them. But we know that’s not true; they do. So I think Washington Post, bottom line, has stepped in it big time. It’s a great idea. It should have unified Trump with some of these big city left-wing liberals!
Why, he was going to give them more of what they want. But somehow, it’s turned into dirty tricksterism. Somehow, it’s turned into “targeting Trump’s political foes.” I hope they haven’t given up on this idea. I hope at some point they revive it and do it, under the premise that the sanctuary city people call these people gifts of love and they shelter them already and they advocate for more of them, so why not? Isn’t this a great way…? They’ve already destroyed those towns anyway, as far as we’re concerned. So what’s a little more destruction?
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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