Left-wing CNN pundit Ana Navarro – who describes herself as a Republican – called on the GOP to oppose President Donald Trump’s executive order regarding restrictions on the admission of foreigners from seven Muslim-majority states.
Teed up by left-wing CNN Democrat Jake Tapper to demand Republican opposition to Trump’s executive order, Navarro described Republicans as “emotionally [exhausted]” while pushing left-wing and partisan Democrat talking points:
“You know, I think people are exhausted. I think a lot of Republicans are exhausted. The flurry of activity this week has been really a dizzying pace. It’s so hard to keep up. And so many of them have been speaking out consistently this week: against the charge that there were three million illegal voters, against the tariffs against Mexico, against the idea of the wall, against not investigating Russia for hacking. So I think it’s such a, you know, steady rain of things that they have to confront Trump on that it’s been kind of an emotionally exhausting week.”
Navarro then claimed Republican politicians were privately speaking with her in opposition to Trump’s “extreme vetting” as a violation of “American values”:
“I have friends telling me, ‘I disagree with this. It is an un-American executive order. But I can’t survive politically if I am confronting the man every day.’ But this is one, where, as exhausted as they may be, Republicans need to appeal to their sense of consciousness, to their principles, to what is right and wrong, to American values, and they need to speak up.”
Navarro ended her soliloquy with an emotional appeal to “family unity,” which included the name-dropping of white nationalist, David Duke:
“The Republican Party I grew up in is a Republican Party of family unity. What we saw yesterday were families being torn apart. What we saw yesterday was violations of the Constitution. We don’t treat different people different ways. We don’t impose a religious test. And the folks may want to tell us this is not a Muslim ban. I’ll tell you who thinks it’s a Muslim ban. Muslims think it’s a Muslim ban. Those who want a Muslim ban like little boy Flynn and David Duke, the former KKK leader, are celebrating it as a Muslim ban. And those of us who don’t want a Muslim ban see it as such.”
Bakari Sellers – who departs from most of his CNN colleagues by being open about his left-wing and partisan Democrat politics – joined Navarro’s lamentations, saying he now “[feels] like a Muslim”:
“The fact is, there are a lot of people in this country who feel persecuted by [Trump’s executive order]. Even more importantly, it’s a religious test in there, because it says if you are a religious minority in a Muslim-majority, that you somehow get precedence. I mean today, I mean, I feel like I’m a Muslim. Today, I feel like I’m a refugee, because as Dr. King said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ And I think that that is what you’re seeing around the country, that is why people are so upset.”
At no point did any of the panelists acknowledge the overlap between Islamic terrorism and Muslims. At no point in the discussion was “Islamic terrorism” mentioned by any of the panelists.
CNN presents itself as a nonpartisan and unbiased news outlet. It describes itself as “The Most Trust Name In News.”
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