‘Come On!’: CNN Host Melts Down And Accuses Former Trump Campaign Official Of ‘Gaslighting’ On Immigration

‘Come On!’: CNN Host Melts Down And Accuses Former Trump Campaign Official Of ‘Gaslighting’ On Immigration

‘Come On!’: CNN Host Melts Down And Accuses Former Trump Campaign Official Of ‘Gaslighting’ On Immigration

CNN anchor Kate Bolduan on Thursday lashed out at former Trump campaign strategic communications director Marc Lotter, accusing him of “gaslighting” after he argued that immigration is a broader issue than the allegations in Springfield, Ohio.

Former President Donald Trump raised concerns during the Sept. 10 presidential debate regarding the unproven claims of Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield and announced Wednesday that he plans to visit the town. Bolduan, on “CNN News Central,” asked Lotter if he thinks Trump should follow through with the visit, to which he responded he should because it would reinforce his nationwide immigration message, but the anchor said his response was misleading.

WATCH:

“If we’re talking about immigration, now you have this added fact, that Donald Trump now promises that he’s gonna be going to Springfield, Ohio, in the next two weeks to continue to lean on what the Republican governor has said is a bunch of garbage in terms of these conspiracy theories about immigrants eating pets,” Bolduan said. “Why? Would you advise him to go and do that?”

“Absolutely, I would advise him to go because what‘s going on in Springfield, Ohio, what’s going on in Aurora, Colorado, it’s not just about a specific incident, it’s about what we see these unchecked immigration doing to these communities as people are fighting for housing, fighting for services,” Lotter said before Bolduan interrupted him.

Springfield residents told the Daily Caller News Foundation that they have not witnessed incidents of immigrants eating pets, but asserted they blame politicians for the significant migrant crisis in their city.

“No, it definitely has to do with specific things, Marc. Come on! I have officially entered the realm of gaslighting,” Bolduan said. “I have good friends and analysts now coming out over the past two days telling me what is reality is not reality … There are no pets being eaten in Springfield, so it is an embodiment or a representation of absolutely zero.”

“You do have a community of 60,000 people that have had 15-20,000 Haitian immigrants dumped into that community. And you have residents there who are worried, they are facing reduced services, they are seeing their parks overrun … There’s a lot of problems there,” Lotter responded. “Look at what’s going on in Aurora, Colorado, where you have a Venezuelan gang taking over apartment complexes. These are very real consequences in a lot of very small middle-sized communities are struggling under it.”

Lotter later in the segment credited Trump for “highlighting the problems” associated with immigration, but Bolduan found fault with the phrase he used.

“Just, on a factual basis, it’s not highlighting a problem. It’s not because, factually, it’s not happening in Springfield. Go find your problem elsewhere then if you want to have the factoid,” the anchor said, stuttering repeatedly. “That’s my point. It’s not, Marc, that there isn’t problems with immigration in this country right now. Democrats and Republicans agree with that, but it’s finding examples that don’t exist that is the problem here.”