CNN’s Jim Acosta took his grandstanding to a whole new level on Thursday when he went to the U.S. Southern border to show America that President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall is unnecessary.
But all Acosta’s segment backfired right in his face.
Instead of proving how unnecessary a wall is, Acosta showed America how incredibly effective it would be.
And critics — including Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and even President Donald Trump himself — made sure to let Acosta know about it.
“Here are some of the steel slats that the president’s been talking about,” Acosta said in the Twitter video. “But, as we’re walking along here, we’re not seeing any kind of imminent danger.”
Acosta described the border area protected by the security wall as “tranquil” and safe, with no migrant caravans in sight.
In other words, Acosta was showing how well the wall was working in the areas it was constructed.
I found some steel slats down on the border. But I don’t see anything resembling a national emergency situation.. at least not in the McAllen TX area of the border where Trump will be today. pic.twitter.com/KRoLdszLUu
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019
Oops.
Fox News Tucker Carlson made sure to comment on the blunder.
“This debate is over. We’re not getting a barrier along our southern border. We can’t. Not now, not ever,” Carlson said sarcastically. “That possibility was permanently destroyed today by a fact-seeking missile of truth launched by one of our country’s premier cable news outlets. In a single devastating act of journalism, CNN killed the wall.”
“It took their biggest guns to do it. The network dispatched its Chief White House correspondent/moral philosophe / renaissance poet, Jim Acosta, to the U.S.-Mexico border, specifically to the Texas city of McAllen” Carlson continued. “Once on the ground, Acosta wasted no time in proving, once and for all, that: Walls. Don’t. Work.”
“Take that, you nativist bigot freaks. You creepy wall-obsessives. Jim Acosta just spanked you,” a sarcastic Carlson continued after playing Acosta’s report. “He was there. Not in some cushy air conditioned studio in Washington, with the rest of the talking heads. But in the field, on the scene, doing the kind of hard-boiled shoe-leather reporting that has made him a household name.”
“See? That’s what you get when you build walls, America: Tranquility,” Carlson joked. “And that’s the last thing we need more of in this country. More peaceful scenes like that. Wait… that can’t really have been CNN’s point, could it? Pretty confusing. We’ll have to call Jim Acosta once he gets back from his latest mission and clear this up. In the meantime, we just wanted to give you some idea of how buffoonish the wall coverage has been recently, in case you missed it.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a frequent target of Acosta’s, also celebrated his video —
When I went with President @realDonaldTrump to the border today I never imagined @Acosta would be there doing our job for us and so clearly explaining why WALLS WORK. Thanks Jim! https://t.co/7wC4rdEsZ2
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) January 10, 2019
Even the president got in on the action, adding a “tranquil” America to his wish list.
He tweeted simple, “Dear Diary…”
Dear Diary… https://t.co/NAuMaQW6fl
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2019
Ouch!
— The Horn editorial team