From the February 6 edition of Fox News' The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino:
Fox host leads into video of Trump stating he’d “love to see a shutdown” by saying “let’s show you how committed he is”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
DANA PERINO (HOST): So the president meeting with some folks today and talking about MS-13 and the problems with gang activity and immigration. There's so many different pieces of immigration. What do you think about his messaging on that because Ed Gillespie in Virginia, a state you know very well, talked about that in his campaign last November, and he garnered the most votes of any gubernatorial candidate on the Republican side in the Commonwealth ever, and yet, he still lost by nine points.
CHARLES HURT (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Yeah. And of course, that race in Virginia -- you and I have talked about this. It was a very unusual -- the dynamics going on there, in particular the anti-Trump fervor in northern Virginia. And Virginia's kind of unique in and of itself in terms of its anti-Trump fervor because so many of the federal employees who live in northern Virginia. Things like that. The headwinds that Ed was going up against in that race were just impossible.
But I do think that the immigration in most places and even in Virginia that argument is a very, very good fight. And Donald Trump is very much right about -- or he's more in line with voters. And I would actually argue, if you look at polling on even legal immigration, not to mention illegal immigration, but if you look at extensive well done polls, Donald Trump is far more in line with the American people than either party, Republicans or Democrats. Even Republicans generally in most of the Senate and many in the House are not nearly far enough, I guess we would say, to the right to be in line with the American voter. So I think it's a very good issue for Donald Trump. And I think that the fact that he is completely unflinching, and he's willing to wade into --
PERINO: Not only that. Let me interrupt you there because we actually just have this sound from the president. Let's show you how committed he is. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If we don't change the legislation, if we don't get rid of these loopholes where killers are allowed to come into our country and continue to kill. Gang members. And we're just talking about MS-13. There are many gang members that were don't even mention. If we don't change it, let's have a shutdown. We'll do a shutdown. And it's worth it for our country. I'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of.
(END VIDEO)
PERINO: Earlier today, the Chief of Staff John Kelly was at the Washington Post and said that the president is not inclined to extend the deadline for Dreamers. They're not going to make it a high priority to deport them. But the president's really getting almost even more tough when it comes to immigration.
Previously:
Dana Perino calls Trump's lie-filled press conference “an amazing example of democracy in action”
When Trump told Fox that presidents were to blame for government shutdowns
Right-wing media figures want Trump to shut down the government so they can blame Democrats