CNN’s Jim Acosta says his poetry-inspired clash with senior White House aide Stephen Miller this week is a preview of things to come.
A White House press briefing lit social media on fire Wednesday afternoon with clips of Mr. Acosta quoting Emma Lazarus’ “New Colossus” while asking if President Trump’s preferred immigration policy is “in keeping with American tradition.” The debate that followed (the poem is inscribed at the base of Statue of Liberty), prompted observers to ask if he overstepped his bounds as a reporter, but Mr. Acosta does not see it that way.
“As my mother told me recently, ’Let other people be the wallflower,’ ” Mr. Acosta told The Washington Post on Thursday. “If quoting from the Statue of Liberty is pushing too hard, I’m going to keep pushing.”
The head of University of Maryland’s journalism school weighed in for the piece by blaming both men for essentially making themselves a news story instead of the Senate’s Raise Act immigration bill.
“There’s something to be said for civility,” Lucy Dalglish told The Post. “Good reporters don’t want to make themselves the story. It’s also true that good public servants don’t want to make this all about them.”
“Tell me what years meet Jim Acosta’s definition of the Statue of Liberty poem law of the land,” Mr. Miller said Wednesday while raising his voice. “Do you really at CNN not know the difference between green card policy and illegal immigration?”
Mr. Miller also chastised the insinuation that the White House only wants to accept immigrants from Australia and Great Britain as “one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant and foolish things,” Mr. Acosta ever said.
Ms. Dalglish added that she was “unsettled” by the spectacle.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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