Radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer as a hypocrite Wednesday for criticizing President Trump’s reaction to this week’s terrorist attack in Manhattan.
Mr. Limbaugh said Mr. Schumer’s reaction is a hypocritical form of deflection due to his support for the Diversity Visa Program that allowed the suspect into the country.
“Senator Schumer, you own this guy. Senator Schumer, this guy is yours. He wouldn’t be here if not for the bill you sponsored,” Mr. Limbaugh said in response to charges that Mr. Trump was “dividing America” with his comments after Uzbek immigrant Sayfullo Saipov was taken into custody.
The 29-year-old suspect was shot by police and apprehended after driving a rented truck into pedestrians and bicyclists in lower Manhattan. Eight people died in the terror attack, the worst in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001.
“I’ve seen the tweets from President Trump,” Mr. Schumer said from the Senate floor Wednesday. “The contrast between President Bush’s actions after 9/11 and President Trump’s actions this morning could not be starker. President Trump, where is your leadership? I have always believed that immigration is good for America. President Trump, instead of politicizing and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be bringing us together and focusing on the real solution: anti-terrorism funding, which he proposed to cut.”
Mr. Limbaugh called the New York lawmaker “pathetic,” given his comments after mass shootings over the years.
“Chuck Schumer politicizes every gun shooting, every gun event, every shooting,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “It doesn’t take him five seconds. Politicizes every one. He’ll go to the nearest camera or microphone or head to the floor of the United States Senate and politicize everything where a gun is involved. And now he’s upset, righteously indignant, that Donald Trump has the temerity to remind everybody that this guy and millions others potentially like him are in this country because of legislation Chuck Schumer energetically and thoroughly supported. The diversity visa lottery.”
The radio host called the State Department program, which essentially grants 50,000 individuals per year a path to citizenship, a “cockamamie” idea. The program was established with the passage of the Immigration Act in 1990 and was co-sponsored by Mr. Schumer, then a congressman.
“Democrats never get called out on this stuff,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “Again, I say, as I overwork and overuse the phrase, this is what pushing back looks like.”
“The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ’Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “I want merit based. … We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter).”
The terrorist came into our country through what is called the “Diversity Visa Lottery Program,” a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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