'Come on!' CNN host leaves Trump ally speechless after fact-checking his lies in real time
A Donald Trump surrogate was briefly left speechless after his claims about immigrant takeovers in Colorado and Ohio were fact-checked by CNN's Kate Bolduan.
Mark Lotter, the communications director for the right-wing America First Policy Institute and a former aide to vice president Mike Pence, appeared on the network Thursday morning to discuss the 2024 election, and Bolduan asked him about polling that suggests Republican messaging on immigration and the economy may be losing its appeal.
"Talking about immigration, now you have this added fact that Donald Trump now promises that he's going to be going to Springfield, Ohio, in the next two weeks to continue to lean on what the Republican governor has said is a bunch of garbage, in terms of these conspiracy theories about about immigrants eating pets," Bolduan said. "Why would you advise him to go and do that?"
ALSO READ: Let's call Springfield what it is: Republican-made terrorism
Lotter insisted the Republican nominee's plans to visit the beleaguered city over its mayor's objections were wise, saying that amplifying knowingly false claims about Haitian immigrants living there and debunked allegations that Venezuelan gang members had taken over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, helped draw attention to genuine problems.
"I would advise him to go because what's going on in Springfield, Ohio, what's going on in Aurora, Colorado, it's not just about a specific incident, it's about what we see these unchecked immigration doing to these communities," Lotter said.
"It definitely has to do with specific things, Mark," Bolduan interrupted. "Come on! It has officially entered the realm of gaslighting. I have good friends and analysts now coming out over the past two days telling me what is reality is not reality. Mark, the governor [Mike DeWine] says it's garbage. They say what happened there – there are no pets being eaten in Springfield, so it is an embodiment or a representation of absolutely zero."
Lotter was knocked off course for a moment and then drastically scaled back the allegations that Trump and running mate J.D. Vance have been making about the community's recent arrivals.
"You do have a community of 60,000 people that have had 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants dumped into that community," Lotter said, "and you have residents there who are worried they are they're facing reduced services. They are seeing their parks overrun. You do have there's discussions about people who are squatting on people's yards – there's a lot of problems there. Look at what's going on in Aurora, Colorado, where you have Venezuelan gang taking over apartment complexes. These are very real consequences in a lot of very small middle-sized communities are struggling under it."
Political commentator Karen Finney shook her head and pushed back on Lotter's claims as he spoke, and she forcefully denounced him and the GOP ticket when her turn came to speak.
"No, it's disgusting and shameful and it is endangering the lives of children and families," Finney said. "Shame on him, and shame on J.D. Vance, because here's the truth. Nobody dumped people on Springfield, Ohio. Businesses in Ohio had jobs shortages. They were recruiting Haitian migrants who are here in this country legally to come to help fill... menial labor jobs that people who live there didn't want to do – that's what happened. What they need, as the mayor himself said, is help, not hate, not the KKK showing up, not the Proud Boys showing up, and let's be very clear about what Trump is doing. This actually has nothing to do with a conversation about immigration reform. This is a political tactic. We seen it cycle after cycle, leading up to an election where you demonize, dehumanized and lied about migrants to scare people. But the thing is, if you stop, what you realize is you're not hearing real solutions from Donald Trump. What you're hearing again is lies and hate."
Lotter again insisted that immigrants were bringing crime into communities and inconveniencing residents who already live there.
"Look, there are so many communities out there that are struggling to keep up with services, whether it's New York Chicago, Los Angeles, wherever," he said. "Now we're seeing it going into smaller communities. People are worried, they're seeing their tax dollars being going to support illegal immigrants or immigrant communities that are in their communities while their services are being reduced, their schools are being filled with folks, their students aren't able to learn. They can't go to parks, they do see an increase in criminal activity in their homes, traffic problems in Springfield, Ohio. All of these things are documented in real time by Donald Trump is highlighting the problems that we're talking about here. Kamala Harris wants to let more in."
Bolduan stopped Lotter again for another fact check.
"Just on a factual basis, it's not highlighting a problem," Bolduan said. "It's not, because factually it's not happening in Springfield. Go find your problem elsewhere then if you want to have the factoid. That's my that's my point– it's not that there isn't problems with immigration in this country right now, Democrats or Republicans agree with that, but it's finding examples that don't exist that is the problem here."
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