Replace & Erase: Harris' record as "Border Czar"
Vice President Kamala Harris was called a "border czar" by media, who are now scrambling to erase their own reporting
It hasn’t even been a full week since President Joe Biden announced he was terminating his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor for the Democratic nomination.
Yet, legacy media and various websites are already trying to “replace and erase” when it comes to Harris' role in the border crisis, in some cases by editing past stories referencing her role or those calling her "border czar," by claiming Harris was only tasked with looking at the "root causes" of illegal migration.
What I call “replace and erase” could be described as whitewashing, revisionist editing, memory-holing, or straight up gaslighting.
Axios led the pack this week by denouncing its past "border czar" reporting reference in an "Editor's note.”
That editor's note was noticed on the bottom of an article by Stef Knight titled, "Harris border confusion haunts her new campaign." Kight also wrote the article in 2021 titled that used the moniker.
A Time Magazine headline this week reads, “Kamala Harris Was Never Biden’s ‘Border Czar.’ Here’s What She Really Did."
USA Today even issued a “fact check” to further drive the "root causes" whitewash of Harris' involvement. Not to be outdone, PolitiFact rated the claim about Harris being the border czar "mostly false" and part of a Republican effort to "link her" to the border disaster.
Wikipedia has scrubbed all references to Harris as “border czar” on it’s executive branch czar page.
Newsweek, NY Daily News, NY Times and Washington Post all had similar stories pop up between the time Biden endorsed Harris on July 21 and the publication time of this article.
All of these outlets have referred to Harris as the "border czar" in the past and are now furiously replacing and erasing what they reported to the American public over the past three years.
Also being reported by Outkick are “ leaked talking points'“ distributed to Democrats for how to handle Harris’ border role.
The key message of the talking points is to stress “The vice president was never in charge of the border. She was never in charge of immigration policy.”
Newsbusters’ Bill D’Agostino dropped a video on X showing the leaked Democrat talking points are already in play and being used nearly verbatim in interviews by major media outlets.
More To The Story
Did Biden actually name her “border czar?” Not that I could find.
Did the media give her that title? Yes.
"[Harris] has been tasked with...solving the immigration crisis at the border." NBC News reports in September 2022
At a March 24, 2021 briefing, President Joe Biden appointed Harris to deal with the border. This fact is in the record on the White House website.
“I’ve asked her, the VP, today — because she’s the most qualified person to do it — to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border,” Biden said during the 2021 meeting.
Biden continued, "And so, this increase has been consequential, but the Vice President has agreed — among the multiple other things that I have her leading — and I appreciate it — agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept re- — the returnees, and enhance migration enforcement at their borders — at their borders."
Biden never once mentions investigating “root causes,” now being underscored by media outlets. It was actually Harris who used the term, emphasis added:
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. President and for having the confidence in me. And there’s no question that this is a challenging situation. As the President has said, there are many factors that lead precedent to leave these countries. And while we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand that we will enforce the law and that we also — because we can chew gum and walk at the same time — must address the root causes that — that cause people to make the trek, as the President has described, to come here.
Luckily the replace and erase campaign isn’t going unnoticed.
D'Agostino also posted a video to X showing media reporting before and after Harris became the presumptive nominee.
"Journalists were calling Kamala the border czar until like five minutes ago,” D’Agonstino wrote. “Don't let the media gaslight you."
Indeed, don’t let the media gaslight you with this replace and erase campaign - or the next one, like California Governor Gavin Newsom’s sudden desire to clear out the blocks and blocks of homeless encampments in the state’s major cities.
Newsom has largely ignored them for years - up until this week. He’s likely only addressing it now because the optics of these camps would reflect badly on Harris, the former California U.S. senator.
Newsom claimed in a video message of his signing an order to clear the camps, that there was “nothing more urgent” and proceeded to blame the courts for tying his hands in acting earlier while applauding the Supreme Court ruling that cities can ban sleeping on public property.
“We have now, no excuse…” Newsom said.
Parting shot:
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