'What has happened?' CNN's Jim Acosta shames Trump ally using words of GOP hero
CNN anchor Jim Acosta threw the words of Ronald Reagan as he tussled with a Republican guest arguing in support of Donald Trump’s claim that America had become the world's "garbage can."
Acosta was incensed by the former president's claim, made at a rally Thursday, that the U.S. was now seen as a place for the world to dump its criminals and undesirables.
“What has happened to Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party?’ Acosta demanded of Marc Lotter, who served as director of strategic communications for Trump's 2020 presidential campaign
He added, “The party has changed! … This is how Ronald Reagan saw America,” before playing a clip of the Republican hero’s famous Shining City on a Hill speech.
“Right there, he not only talks about America being a shining city on the hill, he also talks about it being a city, if it has a wall, it has a door and the people who have the wherewithal, the spunk, the fight to get here, that they're welcome here.
“Then you have Trump out there calling this country a garbage can because of immigrants coming here. I don't, you know, I can't imagine you see America that same way don't you see it as the shining city on a hill?”
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Lotter tried to pivot, comparing Trump to Reagan.
“The other great phrase that Ronald Reagan ran on in 1980 was make America great again, and that does sound awfully familiar
“When I hear Donald Trump talking about wanting to rebuild America, whether it's through our infrastructure, our economy, our energy, our military, I see him doing the exact same things.
“And even when it comes to immigration, the president was very clearly, during his four years in the White House, he was for legal immigration. He wants to stop illegal immigration. And so I think that he is still with the door that Ronald Reagan was talking about, but open the door, don't break through the window, don't come in over the wall or under it, come in through the door legally.”
Earlier, Acosta got testy with Lotter as the Republican argued that crime rates were not going down under President Joe Biden’s administration.
“No, no,” said Acosta. “We are not going to do that back-and-forth thing.”