Screen capture from NYT video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbEe8x2O7Qg

Mara Salvatrucha, a vicious street gang known as MS-13, has been in the news recently. At a White House forum last week, President Trump referred to the members as animals. The media, with a callous dishonesty that we have come to expect, reported that Trump had referred to all immigrants as animals. Along with the press, their allies in academia jumped on the bandwagon, on one case absurdly seeking to prove that MS-13 really wasn’t a big deal. The White House went on a full-court press to beat back this story, eventually trolling the White House press corps with a statement that referred to MS-13 members as animals no fewer than eight times.

Now a poll has been conducted on the subject:

A majority of Americans in a new poll believe it’s fair to characterize members of the MS-13 gang as “animals,” according to the survey taken after President Trump faced controversy for remarks during an immigration meeting.

Fifty-six percent of American adults in the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll said referring to members of the gang as “animals” is fair, compared to 44 percent who said the characterization was unfair.

A slimmer majority, 52 percent, added that comments that “dehumanize” members of MS-13 are acceptable.
…
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll online survey of 1,347 registered voters was conducted May 21-22. The partisan breakdown is 37 percent Democrat, 32 percent Republican, 29 percent independent and 2 percent other.

One of the many silver linings to the cloud of the Trump presidency remains the way he goads the left into exposing itself for what it is. Each outrageous thing Trump does or says further radicalizes both the left and the media and their positions become much more unhinged as usual. Why anyone thought they could mangle Trump’s statement (and this is NOT the first time he’s called MS-13 animals) into an attack on all immigrants in an era where every presidential event has multiple recordings is simply a reflection of the arrogance of the media and the contempt they have for the American people. The impassioned defense of MS-13 fell flat because most Americans understand what MS-13 is.

If you want to understand how the Democrats blew a 13-point lead in the generic ballot…and how they got Trump to begin with, you need look no further than this dishonest fearmongering by the Democrats and their paid cheerleaders in the media.