The debate fact-check on Donald Trump continues, but the fact-checkers seem to be getting more wrong than right. While the media has had a field day with the former president’s remarks about the reports of migrants eating pets and wildlife in Springfield, OH, they have also attacked him for saying Vice President Kamala Harris supports so-called ‘gender affirming care’ for illegal immigrants who are incarcerated.
Time Magazine, Keith Olbermann, and The New Yorker are just a few of the outlets who mocked Trump for the allegation. The problem? He was right.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Buck Sexton, host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, to discuss where Harris stands on the issue of taxpayer-funded ‘transition’ care for prisoners and how the media fell down on the job.
The Controversy
During the debate, Harris was asked by moderator Linsey Davis why her policy positions have changed over the years. The vice president reiterated that her “values have not changed.” When Trump was given the chance to respond, he began listing some of the leftist policies she has supported over the years.
One such example involved ‘gender affirming care’ for migrants and convicts. “Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison,” Trump said. “This is a radical left liberal that would do this.”
The media wasted no time calling Trump out for the accusation. In an article titled “How Kamala Harris Knocked Donald Trump Off Course,” Time Magazine said the former president was wrong. “The former President repeated a baseless Internet rumor that migrant invaders were killing and eating pet dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, and claimed that Harris “wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison,” the Time piece asserted.
Hours later, Time was forced to issue a correction:
“The original version of this story mischaracterized as false Donald Trump’s statement accusing Kamala Harris of supporting “transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison” As a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris filled out a questionnaire saying she supported taxpayer-funded gender transition treatment for detained immigrants.”
As Megyn noted, “they had to call themselves out after all the blowback they got.” That blowback stemmed from something CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski uncovered earlier this week.
Harris’ Position
Prior to the presidential debate on Tuesday, Kaczynski published his latest KFile report for CNN that included a 2019 questionnaire from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) he dug up in which Harris expressed support for the very policy in question.
Then-Sen. Harris filled out the “ACLU Rights for All Candidate Questionnaire 2019” during her failed 2020 presidential run, and the 18-question document covered topics like reducing incarceration rates, making use of the president’s clemency power, and decriminalizing drugs. Question 14 covered ‘gender affirming care’:
14. As President will you use your executive authority to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care? If yes, how will you do so?
According to the document Kaczynski found, Harris marked “yes” to the yes/no question and then provided a written explanation on her position. She wrote:
“It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition. That’s why, as Attorney General, I pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates. I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained. Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment.”
While Time admitted it was wrong to claim Trump’s assertion on the debate stage was “baseless,” The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser who wrote “no one knows… what the hell was he talking about?” has yet to correct the record. No word yet from Olbermann either after he accused Trump of “outright fabrications that lies.”
‘This Is a Scandal’
Megyn said there is only one way to classify the media malpractice. “This is a scandal,” she said. “And the media failure and actual pushback on it is a secondary scandal. And the fact that ABC did not raise this at all is a third scandal connected with scandals one and two.”
In Sexton’s view, the dishonesty is all part of a strategy. “There is going to be nothing but ‘What you are talking about?’ until the election because this is the whole game plan,” he said. “Because it is impossible for them to be honest about Kamala Harris’ record or just who she is and what she stands for and have a realistic shot at winning this election.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 886 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.