In an incident that was quite in character for much-disliked former Fox News Channel host Geraldo Rivera, he appeared on MSNBC’s “The Beat” on Wednesday, January 8, and took the opportunity to freak out about the Trump Administration and declare that he would like to punch Stephen Miller, the immigration policy adviser for President-elect Donald Trump known for his hardline views on immigration.
The incident came up when MSNBC’s host of “The Beat,” Ari Melber, commented on the incoming Trump Administration’s enforcement plans, saying, “The Trump transition team wants to do what they call a D.C.-area showcase immigration raid in the first days. This would be a quote, ‘high-profile raid targeting undocumented immigrants in its initial days.’”
Continuing, the host noted to Rivera that, admittedly, concerns over mass immigration have risen over the past few years, saying, “I’m curious what you think of this because I’ve covered this. I’ve had Stephen Miller on the show. I think we can stipulate that there are debates about immigration in this country and undocumented immigration has been rising.”
Concluding by finally getting to his actual question, Melber asked Rivera how it is possible to enforce American immigration law in a “humane” way that also protects America’s national security, asking, “And there’s a question about how to deal with that in a holistic way that is humane, but protects national security.”
Rivera, responding, said that he used to be a boxer and would like to get back into it so that he could wind up and punch Stephen Miller in the face. He said. “You know, I’m an old man now. I’ve been a boxer all my life. I’ve given it up because of my frailty. But I would come back to punch Stephen Miller in the nose.”
Explaining why, Rivera alleged that Miller deserves to be assaulted for his political beliefs because those beliefs are, in his view, “hideous.” Rivera said, referencing Mr. Miller’s widely known hardliner stance on immigration, legal and illegal, and support for deporations as immigration law enforcement, that he wants to punch Miller “because he is the most hideous in terms of his policy.”
Continuing with his angry tirade of a non-answer to Melber’s original question, which is how immigration law could be enforced humanely while still defending the American nation, Rivera then attacked Miller as “draconian,” saying, “I don’t know the guy personally. In terms of his policy, he is absolutely draconian. He’s the definition of it.”
Concluding with a non-truth, Rivera claimed that Miller doesn’t want to solve the issue, a patently false claim given that Miller has presented his policies as a way of finally solving America’s issues with immigration. In any case, Rivera said, on that note, “He doesn’t want to resolve the issue. He wants to scapegoat certain people that will in his mind it would resound favorably to President Trump.” Watch him here:
In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Geraldo attacked Miller for using the New Orleans attack to comment on immigration policy, snapping, “The perp was a U.S. born and bred veteran. Stephen Miller tries to twist every outrage to fit his narrative. Immigrants had zero to do with the slaughter in New Orleans. Zero.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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