CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta took a Twitter beating Thursday for posting a video meant to debunk President Donald Trump's claims of a border crisis – but ended up proving his point that barriers increase security.
"Here are some of the steel slats that the president's been talking about," Acosta said while reporting from the southern border. "But as we're walking along here, we're not seeing any kind of imminent danger," adding "There are no migrants trying to rush toward this fence."
Acosta then declared there was "no sign of the national emergency that the president has been talking about" and it was "tranquil" near him. He captioned the video, "I found some steel slats down on the border. But I don't see anything resembling a national emergency situation, at least not in the McAllen TX area of the border where Trump will be [Thursday]."
The video – taken ahead of Trump's border visit Thursday – got pounded from media watchdogs and critics alike.
"Jim Acosta just posted one of the biggest self owns ever," social media strategist Caleb Hull tweeted. "He's walking along the border where there's a wall in place talking about how there's nothing that 'resembles a national emergency situation' and 'there's no migrants trying to rush.' That's because there's a wall, Jim."
One of Acosta's former colleagues at CNN, Peter Hamby, also took a swipe, calling the video "glib" and "customized for re-tweets." Another poster cracked, "you found a place where there is a barrier and all is quiet? Jim, do you know what point you're actually making here?"
Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale also rubbed it in, thanking Acosta "for pointing out how peaceful, safe, and secure it is at a part of the border that HAS a wall," while Daily Wire editor Ben Shapiro was more blunt, calling Acosta a "dolt."
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