Fox News aired a fascinating segment on how the liberal media are willing to totally dismiss the important issue of real threats in America just to focus a spotlight on whether language used by former President Donald Trump represented possible exaggeration.
The Fox News segment begins with a clip of Trump speaking at an event in Aurora, Colorado, on Oct. 18. Prior to his speech, he had claimed the city had turned into a “war zone” due to a violent Venezuelan gang and that crime was on the rise there due to migrants from Venezuela taking up residence. In response, Republican Mayor Mike Coffman said Trump’s comments were “grossly exaggerated.” Days later the mayor did admit two apartment buildings “have fallen to these Venezuelan gangs” as they intimidated and “pushed out” the property management and broke into units.
During his Aurora speech, Trump mentioned an invasion of the city was underway by an:
“… army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World … to prey upon innocent American citizens. And in no place is it more obvious than right here because multiple apartment complexes have been taken over by the savage Venezuelan prison gang known as Tren de Aragua” (TdA).
The Trump comment and denial by the mayor prompted ABC news host Martha Raddatz to put Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, on the spot in a later interview. Raddatz broached the subject of Trump’s comments about Aurora, triggering Vance to report he had spoken to residents who were terrified of the gang.
However, before he could finish, Vance was interrupted by Raddatz who smugly claimed, “I am going to stop you because I know exactly what happened. I am going to stop you.” Reading a quote, Raddatz said, “The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes,” adding that Mayor Coffman explained “our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns.” She pointed out as well Coffman’s “grossly exaggerated” charge above.
Vance appropriately responded, “Well, Martha, you just said the mayor said they were exaggerated. That means there’s got to be some element of truth here,” which later proved to be correct. Nonetheless, dismissing Vance’s comments, Raddatz contently concluded her lecture of him, repeating that it was only a “handful” of apartment takeovers that had occurred.
An unfettered Vance brilliantly responded as follows:
“Only, Martha, do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris’ open border? Americans are so fed up with what is going on and they really have every right to be. I really find this exchange, Martha, sort of interesting because you seem to be more focused with nitpicking everything that Donald Trump has said, rather than acknowledging that apartment complexes in the United States of America are being taken over by violent gangs.”
Hit with a dose of reality but not wishing to concede Vance’s very valid point, this supposedly independent media member ended the discussion with: “OK. Let’s just end that with they did not invade or take over the city as Donald Trump said.” Raddatz then said she wanted to move on to another topic but Vance – remaining very cool, calm and collected as he always does when confronting a media critic – made the final comment on the issue, sarcastically underscoring again the relevant issue in the news host’s mind, “Just a few apartment complexes. No big deal.”
A less charismatic person would have shaken his head in disbelief over the news host’s outrageous tolerance of only a handful of apartment building takeovers occurring, but Vance spared her such indignity.
While Vance had not said it during the Raddatz interview, the next day the fake news media published a headline reading, “Vance stands by Trump’s false claims Venezuelan gangs have invaded Aurora, Colorado.” There seems to be no end to the extremes the liberal media will go.
What is most telling in the Fox News segment is the clip of more than a “handful” of these gang members, armed and racing up a stairway where they began breaking into apartments. One can only imagine the terror racing through the minds of residents.
An Aurora grandmother whose apartment building was victimized by the TdA gang would have none of the media’s outrageous distortions, lashing out at Raddatz for her insensitivity and brash dismissal of what has gone wrong in America under the Biden/Harris administration.
More recent news reports now indicate that TdA has spread to Texas where it has seized four apartment buildings and are involved in illegal rent collection and other criminal activities in San Antonio. Texas Gov. Greg Abbot has called the Venezuelan gang a foreign terrorist organization.
WalletHub is a website that conducts rankings in various fields such as colleges, financial institutions and safest cities. It will be interesting to see how far down the city list Aurora (now No. 41) and San Antonio (No. 129) tumble due to the contributions of TdA.
It is absurd to hear a member of the media endeavoring to dismiss the violent actions of TdA for only involving a handful of apartment buildings in an effort simply designed to try and score “gotcha” points against Trump.
(Note to Raddatz: This same gang has since targeted migrant shelters in NYC and Times Square – ironically, where ABC News is located. TdA appears to be getting away with it undoubtedly because its liberal city officials dismiss it as just one such Square. This act clearly demonstrates TdA’s brazenness by terrorizing such a high-profile national landmark. Hopefully, someone at ABC News will tell Radditz, “We have a problem.”)
What has happened in Aurora, San Antonio and now NYC is shocking and has city residents truly terrified. One can only wonder if a “handful” of residents had also been killed by gang members during these takeovers if the news host would have been similarly dismissive of their deaths so long as she could end the discussion with, “OK. Let’s just end that with they did not invade or take over the city as Donald Trump said.”