The Hill Liz Peek: Desperate Democrats cry “misinformation” to silence criticism of Kamala Harris
For days now, the liberal media and its Democratic allies have seemed much more concerned about Republicans spreading “misinformation” than about the real-life suffering of North Carolinians.
For proof, look no further than this blizzard of headlines — all from Politico:
Politico is certainly not alone, ABC ran with this story on Tuesday: “Ahead of election, experts warn Hurricane Helene misinformation is ‘just the beginning.’”
CBS contributed this one on Monday: “Misinformation has surged following Hurricane Helene.”
That’s the same CBS that reportedly doctored video of Kamala Harris’s “60 Minutes” interview to make the Democratic candidate appear more intelligent. So their concern about misinformation is apparently episodic.
It’s almost as though a memo went out to Democrat-friendly media allies, prompting a concerted pushback against criticism of the Biden-Harris White House’s response to Hurricane Helene. It’s not surprising.
The pile-up of delayed, tone-deaf and embarrassing responses to the devastating storm from the administration and Kamala Harris has been damaging; her team is desperate to contain the damage.
The stories from Helene hit Harris where she is vulnerable. Reports that FEMA funds meant to help Americans in crisis have instead gone to sheltering and feeding millions of migrants remind us that Harris, who was the border czar, failed to control the tidal wave of illegal immigration that occurred under her watch.
News of FEMA’s delayed aid and poor communications reconfirm impressions that the Biden-Harris White House, and especially Homeland Security Mayorkas, are incompetent.
Mayorkas is not only responsible for FEMA, but also oversees the Border Patrol and the Secret Service, which has been blasted for allowing two assassination attempts on Donald Trump. It is Mayorkas who famously has said on multiple occasions that the border was “secure” even when thousands of people were crossing illegally every day.
A Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted post-Helene puts Harris up nationally over Trump by 2 points among likely voters. That indicates a huge drop for her, since the same survey had her 6 points ahead in late October.
Hence, the alarms raised about “misinformation,” which apparently applies only to negative reviews of the Biden-Harris administration.
The only problem: Most of the pushback has come from FEMA officials, the very people largely to blame for the disorganized relief work in North Carolina.
Last Sunday, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told George Stephanopoulos that, in Politico’s words, “Donald Trump’s false claims that money that went to undocumented immigrants has depleted money for hurricane relief — is a “truly dangerous narrative.”
The only problem with Criswell’s complaint is that it was her boss, Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas, who first raised the possibility that FEMA might not have sufficient money to get through hurricane season. And the White House’s own Karine Jean-Pierre spilled the news in 2022 that FEMA funds were going to shelter and feed the millions of illegal migrants who had crossed into our country. Oops!
Criswell herself confirmed that reorientation of FEMA’s mission during testimony before Congress. She said that FEMA would “continue to focus on supporting jurisdictions that are managing the care of immigrants through our Shelter and Services program.”
Are Mayorkas, Criswell and Jean-Pierre spreading “misinformation” about how disaster funds went to migrants?
The other problem with all the “misinformation” chatter is that the response to the catastrophic storm has actually been poor.
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed noting that it took several days for Harris, Biden and Mayorkas to engage in the relief efforts in the southeast — as many as it took George Bush to show up after Katrina, for which he was pummeled by critics. It also took too long to deploy troops to the area and, once deployed, to put them to work effectively.
As Vance wrote: “Deployment delays became severe enough that North Carolina Sens. Ted Budd and Thom Tillis issued a joint statement on Oct. 4 calling for “an active-duty military leader who has extensive experience with operations of this magnitude to lead moving forward.”
People should beware: Democrats have now decided that charges of “misinformation” are the best way to stifle criticism of their policies or dissonant opinions from their adversaries. Increasingly, Democrats are waging a war against free speech. This is not hyperbole, as Joe Biden might say.
When former Secretary of State John Kerry complains that the First Amendment, which protects free speech, is an impediment to forcing his party’s extreme climate agenda down Americans’ throats, it is no idle whine.
Kerry, Joe Biden’s climate czar, recently addressed the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Meetings and said, “If people go to only one source, and the source they go to is sick and, you know, has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to just, you know, hammer it out of existence.”
So Democrats pretend to protect democracy, but in trying to stifle dissent, they show their true authoritarianism.
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