‘LIE-abetes!’:CNN Panel Erupts as MAGA Pundit Denies ICE to Blame for Trump Immigration Polling Slide

Conservative radio host Jason Rantz’s claim that ICE isn’t to blame for President Donald Trump’s weakening poll numbers on immigration sparked a heated confrontation on CNN NewsNight, with a fellow panelist accusing him of “lie-abetes.”

The panel discussed new polling Wednesday showing the president slipping on immigration and inflation, issues that former Florida state attorney Dave Aronberg argued had been central to Trump’s re-election coalition.

“I think of all the numbers you showed that immigration number should really freak out Republicans, if they’re losing on that, then there is no place to go,” Aronberg said.

The take, however, prompted Rantz to counter: “Well, let’s also get a better understanding of what it even means when we’re talking about immigration in this context.”

“I think if you were to poll specifically about the fact that we actually have a closed border now and people aren’t coming across illegally across the board, Democrat or Republican –” he continued.

“That’s not what Americans see. Americans see the $70 billion slush fund Republicans gave to ICE, and they see people being murdered,” Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright pushed back.

“There’s not a single American who was polled there that was pointing directly to that. I guarantee you,” Rantz replied.

Seawright cut in: “Think about the conversations we have when it comes to immigration right now, in this moment. It’s ICE killing people in cold blood, in the streets. It’s little kids being arrested. It’s people showing –”

The panel erupted as others leapt in to dismiss Rantz’s claim.

“No, you’re interpreting certain instances in which people have been killed, there’s no doubt, but this idea that they’re being murdered in cold blood,” he said.

Co-panelist Ana Navarro began: “Renee Good and Alex Pretti –”

Rantz interjected, speaking of Good: “– who almost ran over an ICE agent, which we all saw.”

Seawright jumped in again: “What do you call the two Minnesota incidents? I think you might be suffering from –”

“I’m not suffering from anything,” Rantz quipped.

“I think you might be suffering with a serious case of lie-abetes. If you do not think that Americans do not see people being killed in cold blood by ICE,” Seawright said.

Rantz replied: “Killed in cold blood, I think, is rejected by the American people. I think.”

“That’s not what the polling says, the polling says something different,” Seawright said.

Rantz then appealed to host Abby Phillip to confirm if the incidents were specifically what was being asked in the poll, “Is that what was questioned? Was that the question?”

“We’re talking about immigration as a whole, ICE is an element of immigration,” Seawright insisted.

“Okay. But either way, on the question of ‘how is the president handling immigration?’ it seems like people are reacting negatively to that,” Phillip said, adding that while “The border is closed,” the president “chose not to do that. And so his choices around immigration, that’s what’s being told.”

Rantz replied that “his choices were also based on campaign promises.”

Watch above via CNN.

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