Steve Levy began his Feb. 16 Newsmax column by introducing us to his imaginary liberal friend:
It never ceases to amaze this writer how misinformed his friends on the left are who only get their news from CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or MSNBC.
This phenomenon was never clearer to me than when I had a discussion about the Senate’s immigration bill with my very intelligent friend, Joe — who happens to be a somewhat moderate Democrat.
It was mind blowing to me how such a highly educated fellow could be duped into believing false information peddled by the leftist media — his only source of information.
He then served up a conversation with this imaginary friend:
Joe: Steve, can you believe that Trump and the MAGA Republicans killed that immigration compromise bill that would’ve secured the border simply so they wouldn’t give Biden an issue?
Me: Joe, did you see the details of this bill? They’re awful. They allow 1.8 million illegal aliens to get a free pass into America each year (that’s 118 million over the next decade) before Biden would be required to do anything on the border.
But that’s a highly misleading claim — showing that Levy gets his information only from the agenda-driven right-wing media. As a more honest media outlet detailed:
The bipartisan deal does include provisions that would shut down the border entirely if a certain threshold is hit, but those are border encounters, not crossings. As noted above, no migrants trying to enter the U.S. illegally would be allowed into the country unless they passed asylum interviews or were being held under government supervision.
Under the new immigration bill, the Department of Homeland Security could close the border if too many migrants were showing up with asylum claims. After negotiators conferred with the Border Patrol and officials at the Department of Homeland Security, they crafted the legislation to give DHS the authority to close the border if they reached a seven-day average of 4,000 or more border encounters. A seven-day average of 5,000 or more would mandate a border closure. If the number exceeded 8,500 in a single day, there would also be a mandatory border closure.
The funny thing is, Levy’s liberal friend called him out on this too — so he tried to change the subject:
Joe: That’s not true, Steve. But even if it was, that’s the art of compromise. These people were coming over anyway, so why not have some trigger point to secure our border.
Me: Because you don’t need a trigger point. Biden right now has – just like he had from day one – the ability to keep the border secure.
Levy went on to spout more things he was fed by right-wing media, including ranting about “useful idiot RINOs, like Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.” He then dishonestly likened immigration policy to murder:
Joe: Because it’s better than nothing.
Me: So, what if you had a prosecutor who declared that he was no longer prosecuting murders and you complained. He says, “Let’s compromise.”
But he would only entertain prosecuting them again if the first 5,000 murderers get off scot-free. Would you be OK with that?
Joe: Of course not, but that’s different.
Me: Why is it any different? Allowing 5,000 illegal aliens a day to cross out border and basically get a path to legalization is an affront to the millions of people who are waiting online to get in this country the correct way, not to mention the economic strain they are placing on local budgets.
[…]Joe: Yeah, but this all about Trump not wanting to give Biden a win.
Me: Whatever Trump‘s motivations are, they do not negate the fact that this is an awful bill that should be killed on its own merits, or lack thereof.
But I have to hand it to the Democrats.
They knew that by floating this ridiculous so-called “compromise,” they would be able to create a narrative that Biden is serious about closing the border, and would put the onus on the Republicans to either accept this horrible deal that legitimizes illegal immigration or have them painted by the liberal media as being obstructionists who don’t really want to close the border and just want to keep it alive as an issue.
Levy concluded by unironically attacking the “mainstream media”:
Now, in a normal world, you would think that Democrats wouldn’t be able to get away with such chicanery.
But in today’s world, the mainstream media is just an arm of the Democratic Party, promoting and giving credence to its false narratives.
I always knew that this was the case and would influence the tuned-out resident.
However, I never thought it would impact highly intelligent, tuned in fellows like my friend Joe.
And that’s the dilemma in today’s America for Republicans.
You can’t win an argument with someone if they never hear your side.
Levy offered no evidence that right-wing media — like the website that publishes his column — is any different. It appears that he’s the one being duped, not his imaginary liberal friend.