In this episode of "Oh, Honey, No"...
Margaret Brennan, the moderator of CBS' "Face the Nation," once again tried to trip up Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Trump administration policies and actions — a disastrous practice she should have abandoned weeks ago.
Simply put, Marco is not only way too smart for Brennan to mess with; he's also armed with facts, while all Brennan has on her side are Democrat talking points and lies. Wait — that last part was redundant.
Anyway, the fun began when Brennan attempted to push Rubio on President Donald Trump's decision to deport former Columbia University student and pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by ICE and faces the revocation of his student visa due to his alleged incitement of an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protest at the university.
Here's Brennan:
I want to ask you about a decision you made to revoke a student visa for someone at Columbia University this past week. The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes, "the administration needs to be careful, it's targeting real promoters of terrorism not breaking the great promise of a green card by deporting anyone with controversial political views." Can you substantiate any form of material support for terrorism–
Rubio cut her off: "Yes."
Brennan tried to continue:
... specifically to Hamas, from this Columbia student—
Rubio again interrupted: "Yes."
Brennan continued: "Or was it simply that he was espousing a controversial political point of view?"
Rubio was ready (emphasis, mine):
Well, not just the student, we're going to do more. In fact, we- every day now we're approving visa revocations, and if that visa led to a green card, the green card process as well and here's why, it's very simple. When you apply to enter the United States and you get a visa, you are a guest, and you're coming as a student, you're coming as a tourist, or what have you.
And in it, you have to make certain assertions and if you tell us when you apply for a visa, I'm coming to the U.S. to participate in pro-Hamas events, that runs counter to the foreign policy interest of the United States of America. It's that simple. So, you lied.
You came — if you had told us that you were going to do that, we never would have given you the visa. Now you're here. Now you do it. You lied to us. You're out. It's that simple. It's that straight forward.
Memo to Marco:
Straight and simple facts that run counter to the left's narratives are anathema to left-wing media lapdogs, who are much more interested in ignoring or dismissing federal law and the U.S. Constitution in favor of those — domestic and foreign — who seek to harm America, its liberties, and society as we know it.
On @FaceTheNation, @MargBrennan v @MarcoRubio on case of Mahmoud Khalil. Rubio: “I find it ironic that a lot these people out there defending the first amendment speech, alleged free speech rights of these Hamas sympathizers, they had no problem pressuring social media to censor… pic.twitter.com/x557ko0Ecw
— Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) March 16, 2025
After Brennan persisted, asking questions about the specific justification(s) for the revocation of Khalil's visa and whether any evidence exists of the pro-Hamas activists' "material support for terrorism," Rubio calmly fired back:
Negotiating on behalf of people that took over a campus? Vandalized buildings? Negotiating over what? That's a crime in and of itself, that they're involved in the being the negotiator, the spokesperson, this that the other. We don't want — we don't need these people in our country that we never should have allowed them in in the first place.
[...]
And now that he's doing it and he's here, he's going to leave, and so are others, and we're going to keep doing it. We're here — and by the way, I find it ironic that a lot of these people out there defending the First Amendment speech — alleged free speech rights of these Hamas sympathizers, they had no problem, okay, pressuring social media to censor American political speech.
So it's, I think it's ironic and hypocritical. But the bottom line is this, if you are in this country, to promote Hamas, to promote terrorist organizations, to participate in vandalism, to participate in acts of rebellion and riots on campus. We never would have let you in if we had known that and now that we know it, you're going to leave.
At the end of the exhaustive conversation, which—hardly a shock, Brennan never got—Rubio finally said:
We don't want terrorists in America. I don't know how hard that is to understand. We want people — we don't want people in our country that are going to be committing crimes and undermining our national security or the public safety.
It's that simple, especially people that are here as guests. That is what a visa is. I don't know what we've gotten it in our head that a visa is some sort of birthright. It is not. It is a visitor into our country, and if you violate the terms of your visitation, you are going to leave.
So here's the thing:
Marco Rubio knows as well as we do that you'd have a better chance of teaching a deaf pigeon to speak French than convincing a left-winger that he or she is wrong. Hence, Rubio didn't care what the deaf pigeon (Brennan) thought, much less understood. His only intent was to perhaps convince at least some "Face the Nation" viewers of the actual facts.
The Trump administration has gotten the left-wing media on its heels, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch.
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