During an appearance on Fox News with anchor Harris Faulkner, Ted Cruz criticized MSNBC’s Jen Psaki and Rachel Maddow for laughing during Super Tuesday coverage discussing Republican voters’ concerns about immigration issues at the border. Cruz called on Psaki and Maddow to apologize for their remarks.
The incident occurred when Psaki noted that voters in Virginia had identified immigration as their top issue. Maddow responded with a quip about Virginia having a border with West Virginia, which elicited laughter from the panel. Maddow jokingly described it as a “very contested area.”
Cruz expressed his disapproval of their remarks, stating, “I’ve actually called on Jen Psaki and Rachel Maddow to apologize for that.”
Conservatives, including Megyn Kelly, have criticized the MSNBC panel’s reaction to the exit poll numbers showing voters’ high prioritization of immigration compared to other issues.
Cruz and Faulkner were discussing the ongoing conversation around immigration and the border, a topic expected to be addressed in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Cruz expressed his feelings about Maddow and Psaki’s remarks about Virginia GOP primary voters’ concerns, along with their laughter at the perceived absurdity of immigration being their top concern.
Psaki had mentioned, “Immigration was the number one issue, of course,” before Maddow made her comment about Virginia’s border. However, Virginia is nearly 2,000 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Psaki continued, “What I mean, when I was in New Hampshire, people were talking about the northern border as a threat because Trump has indoctrinated people with this fear of people who do not, like, look like them being a threat.”
According to an NBC News exit poll, 37% of Republican Virginia voters identified immigration as their top issue, influencing their voting decisions. Cruz criticized the MSNBC anchors, suggesting they consider individuals who may have experienced violence at the hands of migrants.
“I mentioned Jeremy Caceres a second ago, he was murdered about 30 miles away from Jen Psaki’s $1.7 million home in Arlington, Virginia — but from her perspective, that apparently is a laughing matter,” Cruz said.
“She doesn’t understand why families are concerned when their children are being murdered by illegal aliens,” he continued. “Across the country, a whole lot of families understand, and we want to protect our families. We want to support law enforcement and secure the border. I think that clip is emblematic of how out of touch corporate media is, sitting there laughing at, ‘who are these peasants to be worried about this?’ It’s why so many people are understandably upset.”
Cruz’s remarks followed a discussion on MSNBC’s Super Tuesday coverage about the motivations of Republican voters. Earlier in the conversation, Maddow, Psaki, and their fellow panelist Joy-Ann Reid had analyzed why immigration is a significant issue for Republican voters.
“Republican voters don’t vote that way. They don’t vote based on economics or based on the benefits they’re getting economically from the president,” Reid explained. “They’re increasingly, from the Tea Party on, they’re voting on race. They’re voting on this idea of an invasion of brown people over the border. The idea that they can’t get whatever job they want, a Black person got it, therefore drive all the Black folks out of the colleges, get rid of DEI. That is what they’re voting on. They’re just voting specifically on racial animus at this stage. It isn’t about economics.”