Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman sounded more like a Democratic politician or left-wing activist when he joined Friday’s Katy Tur Reports on MSNBC to accuse Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott of human trafficking for sending 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
Talking about the issue of immigration in more general terms, Tur wondered where Congress is in terms of solutions, “Well, that’s what I was going to ask, where’s the solution from Congress? They’re all, you know, fighting over this and pointing fingers, well the Republicans are pointing fingers saying everything is too loose, well where is the solution? Where is the legislation? Where’s the compromise?”
Sherman lamented that, “The solution is nowhere. I mean—it’s– Congress has tried multiple times over the last couple of years, and the last two presidencies, it has not tried in Joe Biden’s presidency, I think because of COVID and just the political dynamics in the post-Trump era, but again, this is a very easy problem to solve.”
Turning his attention to the governors, Sherman added, “Now, on the Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott angle, I just got off with a Republican consultant who was on when I was on my way to be on TV with you, who said that the donor class, the far-right conservative donor class, likes this.”
Continuing, Sherman deplored that “human trafficking” is a way to win support in the GOP, “Now, again, the morality of this aside, which is absolutely horrific, it’s human trafficking, it seems to be playing to kind of this base that is anti-immigration and wants tighter borders and wants to close the borders, as Donald Trump wanted to do, so I mean it’s pretty, it’s pretty shameful to think that these kinds of stunts can lead to an increased base of support in the Republican Party.”
Under no credible interpretation of federal law could sending 50 migrants to blue cities be construed as human trafficking, unless Sherman is prepared to accuse Massachusetts of the same thing.
This segment was sponsored by Citi.
Here is a transcript for the September 16 show:
MSNBC Katy Tur Reports
9/16/2022
2:23 PM ET
KATY TUR: Well, that’s what I was going to ask, where’s the solution from Congress? They’re all, you know, fighting over this—
JAKE SHERMAN: Yeah.
TUR: — and pointing fingers, well the Republicans are pointing fingers saying everything is too loose, well where is the solution? Where is the legislation? Where’s the compromise?
SHERMAN: Yeah, the solution is nowhere. I mean—it’s– Congress has tried multiple times over the last couple of years, and the last two presidencies, it has not tried in Joe Biden’s presidency, I think because of COVID and just the political dynamics in the post-Trump era, but again, this is a very easy problem to solve.
Now, on the Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott angle, I just got off with a Republican consultant who was on when I was on my way to be on TV with you, who said that the donor class, the far-right conservative donor class, likes this.
Now, again, the morality of this aside, which is absolutely horrific, it’s human trafficking, it seems to be playing to kind of this base that is anti-immigration and wants tighter borders and wants to close the borders, as Donald Trump wanted to do, so I mean it’s pretty, it’s pretty shameful to think that these kinds of stunts can lead to an increased base of support in the Republican Party.