With Power Comes Arrogance
There were news reports in the past few days that the Biden Administration has arranged to fly thousands of migrants from the southern border to Florida and New York. This is apparently not being done with notice to local authorities…the same thing that happened earlier this year when folks were flown into Iowa and Tennessee, with the administration at first denying to state officials that planes landed in the states…then later admitting it but declining to provide details, including whether those individuals who entered without benefit of proper paperwork were still in the state where the plane landed.
Understanding that the relationship between a White House press secretary or spokesperson and folks from certain media outlets can be contentious at times, I hesitate to make too much out an exchange on the topic from yesterday…but folks like the Washington Post have been highlighting it, so it seems like more than just a partisan shot.
The exchange was between Peter Doocy of Fox and Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Doocy asked, “Why is the administration flying thousands of migrants from the border to Florida and New York in the middle of the night?” Psaki replied, “Well, I’m not sure that it’s in the middle of the night.”
He responded, “2:30 a.m., 4:29 a.m.”…to which she replied, “We are talking about early flights.”
There may be some more context there I didn’t see in the Post’s coverage, but it sort of seems to be what it is. Not sure it’s a great optic for the administration to quibble about phrases like “the middle of the night”, with a defense that a 2:30 a.m. flight is an early flight.
The stronger response, it seems to me, would be to address the substance of the issue—denying there were flights if that was the case, or explaining why there were flights at all regardless of the time. But to parse words and fight over “the middle of the night” assertion…I mean, I don’t get out much, but I don’t think 2:30 a.m. flights are the norm.
Those on the right say the Biden Administration doesn’t have anything positive to defend. Leaving that assertion aside, I’d say they’re not helping themselves on easy issues with that kind of response.
