WINNER: Most Self-Serving Democrat Response To Trump’s ‘Animal’ Comment

She might defend taking the lives of the unborn and prone to hyperbolic vilification of her political opponents, but Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi cannot abide someone referring to the notoriously brutal MS-13 Gang — whose motto is “Kill, Rape, Control” — as “animals.” At least if that person is Donald J. Trump.

In a virtue-signaling comment in which she followed the lead of much of the mainstream media by distorting what Trump actually said, Pelosi condemned Trump’s labeling of MS-13 gang members as “animals” — which she disingenuously portrayed as a comment about all “undocumented immigrants,” like many of her colleagues in the press and the Democratic Party — and decried his supposed inability to see “a spark of divinity among every person on earth.”

“We believe — some of us who are attracted to the political arena, to government and public service — that we are all God’s children, there is a spark of divinity among every person on earth, and that we all have to recognize that as we respect the dignity and worth of every person and as we recognize our responsibilities with that spark of divinity within us,” she said.

“And so when the president of the United States says about undocumented immigrants, ‘These aren’t people, these are animals,’ you have to wonder, does he not believe in the spark of divinity, the dignity and worth of every person?” she said. It is this supposed lack of recognition for the divine spark, she went on to suggest, that motivates his administration’s “inhumane” policies.

Here’s the moment from C-SPAN:

The problem with Pelosi and so much of the Democrats’ and the media’s response to Trump’s comment is that it is an overt mischaracterization of it. Trump was clearly talking about immigrant gang members, specifically MS-13, a fact that the Associated Press was eventually forced to publicly acknowledge:

The MS-13 gang, largely comprised of immigrants from El Salvador, is widely considered the most brutal gang in the United States, with a lengthy record of rape, torture, and gruesome murders, living up to the gang’s evil motto: “Kill, Rape, Control.” As the Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo notes, one of the many heinous actions of MS-13 members involved the beating of two teen girls with bats and then hacking them with machetes until they were unrecognizable. “When the MS-13 murderers appeared in court, they smiled, laughed, and waved as the victims’ family members looked on.” If anyone does not respect the divine spark in others, it is the MS-13 Gang.

Below is the full transcript of Trump’s comments, with key moments in bold via The Daily Wire’s Joseph Curl:

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, Margaret?

SHERIFF MIMS: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, sheriffs in California are now in an untenable position when it comes to trying to figure out — now, we have state law, we have federal laws, and here we are stuck in the middle. Sheriffs, especially, because most of us run our county jails.

When there became a legal challenge to the 48-hour holds for ICE, it was very frustrating for us. So what I did is I invited ICE to put their officers in my jails so they’re able to do their work. We didn’t have the staffing to be able to help figure out who they wanted to talk to or didn’t. I said, come on in, work with our people to keep our community safe. Two weeks later, Mr. President, Kate Steinle was murdered.

Now, I wasn’t the only sheriff to do that. Sheriff Youngblood did, Sheriff Christianson. And it was perfect — because we didn’t have to take our time, with our staff, to do anything. ICE was in there doing their work in a safe, controlled, environment. And then, the initiatives started happening — the TRUST Act, the TRUTH Act, and finally, SB 54, the Values Act. And that is causing us all kinds of turmoil.

So here we are, stuck in the middle, trying to decide. We have federal law, we have state law. And that’s why I welcomed Attorney General Sessions’s lawsuit, because that will provide us the clarity that we need and direction that we need. What do we do? Because here we are.

And I appreciated Mr. Homan and ICE. We had a great relationship; we still do. But now ICE is the only law enforcement agency that cannot use our databases to find the bad guys. They cannot come in and talk to people in our jail, unless they reach a certain threshold. They can’t do all kinds of things that other law enforcement agencies can do. And it’s really put us in a very bad position.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s a disgrace. Okay? It’s a disgrace.

SHERIFF MIMS: It’s a disgrace.

THE PRESIDENT: And we’re suing on that, and we’re working hard, and I think it will all come together, because people want it to come together. It’s so ridiculous. The concept that we’re even talking about is ridiculous. We’ll take care of it, Margaret. We’ll win.

SHERIFF MIMS: Thank you. There could be an MS-13 member I know about — if they don’t reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about it.

THE PRESIDENT: We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them — but we’re taking people out of the country. You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals. And we’re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that’s never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. It’s crazy.

The dumbest laws — as I said before, the dumbest laws on immigration in the world. So we’re going to take care of it, Margaret. We’ll get it done. We’re going to ask that man right there, because that man can do it. (Laughter.) Right now he’s the most important man in the room. Kevin can do it.

Kevin? Please.