Fox’s Melissa Francis Invites Republicans to ‘Jump Off a Cliff’ if They Don’t Like Trump’s Tariffs

Fox’s Melissa Francis Invites Republicans to ‘Jump Off a Cliff’ if They Don’t Like Trump’s Tariffs

Fox News’ Melissa Francis has apparently recovered from her brief bout of sanity on Thursday.

Only 24 hours after she struggled to reconcile Robert Mueller’s assertion that he had not exonerated Donald Trump on obstruction of justice charges with pretty much everything she had been hearing in her right-wing media bubble, Francis was back to stridently defending the president in another controversy.

This time the issue was the tariffs that Trump announced Thursday night he would slap on Mexico of that nation does not stop undocumented migrants from making their way to America’s southern border. As Dagen McDowell tried to explain, the tariffs could hurt the Mexican economy, which means that nation will actually have fewer resources to do what Trump is demanding it do. Moreover, fewer jobs in Mexico and Central American countries means that even more migrants will seek to cross into the U.S. in search of work.

Francis responded with some gobbledygook pulled from half-remembered talking points she has likely heard before on Fox and right-wing news sites: “My point is that you are paying for it either way. You are either going to pay with the tariffs when you buy stuff, or when people flood over the border because our social welfare system is too liberal and we give away too much free stuff.”

This statement in no way addressed McDowell’s point that tariffs will actually make the problem Francis is concerned with even worse.

Francis continued ranting that Trump is taking this step with tariffs because he is frustrated that Congress is not taking any action to secure the border and stop the flow of immigrants across it.

Capri Cafaro tried again to explain why the tariffs will not solve that problem, telling Francis that “using trade policy to move immigration policy gets neither done.” When McDowell noted that other Republicans have said the same thing, Francis said, “Those Republicans should go jump off a cliff.”

Francis is making up for Thursday’s apostasy by offering suggestions that are in no way constructive. But President Trump will probably like it.

Watch the video above, via Fox News.

 

 

Gary Legum

Gary Legum has written about politics and culture for Independent Journal Review, Salon, The Daily Beast, Wonkette, AlterNet and McSweeney's, among others. He currently lives in his native state of Virginia.

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