Gaslighting: Corporate Media Outlets Asked Why They Reversed Themselves on Kamala “Border Czar” Harris
Liberal media outlets have suddenly gone silent about their previous acceptance of the “border czar” label for Vice President Kamala Harris. Initially, several news organizations, including CNN, MSNBC, CBS, The New York Times, and Axios, had no issues using the term after President Biden assigned Harris in March 2021 to address the root causes of migration from Central and South America. However, their stance changed as Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee following Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
Fox News Digital questioned these organizations about their sudden rejection of the “border czar” label, asking whether the Harris campaign had influenced their decision. Most did not respond.
PolitiFact rated the claim by Republicans that Harris, as border czar, was “put in charge of stopping illegal immigration” as “Mostly False.” Katie Sanders, the editor-in-chief of PolitiFact, clarified that the fact-check was not influenced by external pressures but was part of their ongoing coverage of political talking points.
USA Today similarly ruled it “false” to say she was “put in charge of the border” and that her role was “more limited” than what a border czar would do. Both USA Today and PolitiFact emphasized their independence and adherence to fact-checking standards.
The White House, however, has used these fact-checkers to bolster their narrative about Harris’ role. Axios, in particular, faced criticism for its role in perpetuating the “border czar” label, later updating its 2021 article and adding an editor’s note acknowledging the mistake.
CNN also went through a drastic shift. During the Biden-Harris administration, multiple correspondents and commentators referred to Harris as the “border czar,” including analyst Alyssa Farah Griffin.
Video by @Banned_Bill showing journalists deciding now that Kamala Harris not the border czar, after years of calling her just that, played by @piersmorgan: ”We’ve got a little mash-up which @NewsBusters had prepared for the delectation of the world.” https://t.co/QxiyaFapAc pic.twitter.com/JQD8yWRTqa
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) July 26, 2024
But this week, CNN anchors including Jake Tapper, John Berman and Kasie Hunt have rebuked the title.
“[Former President Trump] said she was Joe Biden‘s border czar. She wasn‘t,” CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale said Wednesday. “She was never put in charge of the border. She was given a much more limited assignment to lead a so-called root causes diplomatic effort trying to address the reasons in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras that people choose to migrate.”
“Many Republicans scoff at this kind of fact-check, they’re like ‘There were a bunch of articles back in 2021, they called her ‘border czar.’ Frankly, those articles were wrong,” Dale added, touting the outlet’s own reports at the time that didn’t embrace the term.
Several hosts on MSNBC similarly pushed back against the label. Symone Sanders, who previously served as Harris’ chief spokeswoman in the Biden administration before joining the network, lumped in the border czar claims against her former boss with “misinformation” about the VP.
“People are going to have to challenge the misinformation,” Sanders said Wednesday on “Morning Joe.” “You already hear folks talking about the ‘border czar.’ She wasn’t the ‘border czar.’ She did diplomacy in Central America, but the campaign is going to have to make that case.”
ABC’s Jonathan Karl sang from the same sheet of music, saying, “She wasn’t the border czar. That’s what Republicans labeled her. She was given the job of dealing with all the migration that was coming up from Central America. But they will portray her as the one that was in charge of the border, which of course is issue No. 1 for Republicans.”
CBS News pushed back on the label with multiple segments dedicated to the subject on its streaming channel.
“Vice President Harris was not a border czar,” CBS anchor John Dickerson declared in one of the segments before a correspondent elaborated on what her role was.
“Ms. Harris was not, in fact, appointed border czar, nor was she tasked with addressing the broader problems plaguing the border itself,” the Times wrote last week. “Rather she was deputized by President Biden with the diplomatic mission of solving the ‘root causes’ of migration from countries like Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, tackling the issues that spur people to flee in the first place, like drug violence and lack of economic opportunity.”
