Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin (formerly of Fox L.A.) has been on the ground at the Texas/Mexico border for weeks now reporting on the escalating migrant surge and other issues related to the border crisis, and the guy clearly knows his stuff.
That was more than evident after Hollywood actor Daniel Newman took issue with a recent report from Melugin detailing the latest on what he and his news crew have witnessed as they report live on the scene.
Here’s how it started:
Live from La Joya, TX where we witnessed the most illegal crossings we’ve ever seen in one morning here. Over 150+. Migrant holding facilities have had 7,000+ COVID infections since April, and 5 foreigners w/ serious criminal records were arrested here in RGV over the holiday. pic.twitter.com/EnJ8UgWJ3w
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 7, 2021
Newman then chimed in with his sizzling hot take by ridiculously trying to compare four years of Trump numbers to 7 months worth of Biden’s:
Trump had far more crossings. We saw ENORMOUS groups of people during Trump
— Daniel Newmaη (@DanielNewman) July 7, 2021
Melugin responded with receipts, pointing out that the border surge just in the first few months of the Biden administration is already close to eclipsing Trump’s 2019 numbers (which was the high point in his administration), and the year is barely half over:
Wrong. Biden’s 2021 surge numbers blow Trump’s 2019 surge numbers out of the water, every single month, and it’s not even close.
SOURCE: https://t.co/JKGICDZPk0 https://t.co/Yg1vFUlVs3— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 7, 2021
Blatantly false. Feel free to look at the 2021 vs 2019 numbers here from CBP. https://t.co/JKGICDZPk0
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 7, 2021
Melugin’s debunking of Newman’s easily disprovable claim (along with an assist from Heritage’s John Cooper, who also weighed in) seriously triggered the actor, who has probably posted some 15-20 or more tweets between the two of them, laughably telling them to “take the L” even though he was the one clearly in the wrong.
It got so comical that at one point when Newman used a sourceless chart that didn’t even include Biden’s numbers from this year so far beyond February…
Ohhhh… Now sit down and take the L pic.twitter.com/CYxVnYA5i0
— Daniel Newmaη (@DanielNewman) July 7, 2021
… Melugin nuked him again and again:
Are you really using a chart that doesn’t even include the surge under Biden in 2021? Yikes, you are a malicious liar, and you have proven you literally have no idea what you are talking about.
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 7, 2021
Here you go! Straight from CBP’s website 2021 vs 2019. pic.twitter.com/ZIEadGqm94
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 7, 2021
At the rate Biden’s going, within two years or less his migrant surge numbers are likely to surpass all four years of Trump’s numbers, which was the underlying point Melugin tried to make but which Newman refused to acknowledge because apparently, he considers “bbbbut Trump!” an effective counterargument.
Newman’s IMDB page lists him as having had a role in one episode of the new DisneyPlus Loki series and stints on The Walking Dead, Homeland, and The Vampire Diaries, as well as in movies like Children of the Corn and The Dark Knight Rises.
I’m not one who tells entertainers and sports figures to shut up and act/sing/play because they have as much right as anyone to speak their mind. But this is definitely one of those situations where it might have been a good idea for Daniel Newman to sit it out instead of trying to leapfrog ahead of actress Alyssa Milano for entry into the Social Media Hall of Shame.
Just sayin’.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member