Suddenly, when Gov. Ron DeSantis sends about 50 illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, the networks discover an "immigration crisis" in America. They denounced this "audacious stunt" -- but they prefer to avoid the border crisis entirely. DeSantis is forcing this into the "news."
The networks are heavily covering this story of DeSantis (as well as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott busing migrants to Kamala Harris's street in DC. This is a victory of sorts. They prefer to bury the border story. MRC Research Director Scott Whitlock found on five different months, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts managed ten minutes or less of border coverage. In three other months, they allowed no time at all.
Then came the media anguish on Twitter. MSNBC host Chris Hayes said it was "deeply sick and dehumanizing to fling human beings somewhere vindictively." Asawin Subsaeng of the Daily Beast also said DeSantis was "hurling migrants at liberal cities and towns." They weren't launched out of a catapult, they flew on an airplane.
The JFK Library issued a nasty tweet comparing the Republican governors to segregationists who sent black Americans north in "Reverse Freedom Rides," while PBS star Ken Burns and CNN compared this DeSantis action to....the Holocaust. They're both "the authoritarian playbook."
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