Chip Franklin, a feisty radio show host and I got into it regarding the Syrian refugee vetting program and the Paris attacks. Listen in, whew!
TRANSCRIPT:
Chip Franklin
Gayle Trotter is a National Political Analyst and attorney and joins us here on KGO 810. Gayle, obviously, most constitutional scholars say that the President has the authority to bring refugees in. The governors are acting more in a political context than a procedural context. But what is the next step here and how can political leaders actually stop Obama if he wants to bring refugees in?
Gayle Trotter
Funding. What is the chief power of the Congress? It’s the power of the purse and we have funding bills that are coming up and if the Congress really wants to act, they can withhold all funding for these resettlement programs. And that would actually be a humanitarian act, because it costs the same amount to help 12 refugees who stay in the Middle East or in other regions, which is what they’re supposed to do under the U.N. documents that refugees are supposed to stay in the safest, closest location to their country of origin. So then when the conflict stops, they can be repatriated to their country. But you can take care of 12 people there for the cost of taking care of one person in the United States.
So it’s not humanitarian to resettle these Syrian refugees in the United States. Also it’s a national security risk. We had Senator Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate today pushing for two bills that would be an immediate action to provide some protection and relief to the American people to protect our homeland and yet that was opposed by…
CF
Can I say something real quick?
GT
Of course.
CF
You realize Ted Cruz is in insane, right?
GT
Of course he’s not, why do you think he’s in insane?
CF
He wants a Christianity litmus test for people coming to…
GT
No, that’s not correct. He’s trying to avoid genocide. There are Christians who are not able to be in these U.N. resettlement camps in the Middle East, because the jihadists have control over the settlement camps and they are killing the Christians, selling the women into slavery. I mean you want to talk about a rape culture, that’s where the rape culture is. You see that with the Yazidis, too. They are not given the same ability in these resettlement camps that Muslims, even the moderate Muslims are.
CF
All right. Okay. So what you’re saying is that Ted Cruz is actually opposing the Syrian refugees coming into the United States, because he cares about the Christians in these camps. That makes no sense. That’s typical…
GT
No, he’s opposing the Syrian refugees…
CF
No, no, but what you’re doing – I didn’t realize that you were a little out there. This is good though. I’m glad. So you’re saying you’ll oppose Syrian refugees coming into the United States on a security issue based on what?
GT
Security and humanitarian.
CF
No, no, no, no. I know what you’re saying, but right now the countries over there, nobody but France is considering taking them in. They’re going from country to country trying to find somebody that will give them some sort of comfort. If you say sending them back to Syria, that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
GT
No, of course not. That’s against the U.N. dictates. We would not want to send them back to Syria.
CF
And forget the U.N. dictates for a second, Gayle.
GT
Because you put…
CF
These are people that are dying trying to find…
GT
That’s right and we should protect them. It is President Obama’s misguided policy to have withdrawn from Iraq and that’s…
CF
Why do you got to be so hacky? Why do you got to be so hacky?
GT
…the (CROSSTALK) to allow ISIS to grow up.
CF
You and the GOP with your hackdom. It’s unbelievable. Why can’t you talk about this without attacking Obama? Because what Obama’s…
GT
I’m not attacking him. I’m just faulting his leadership. I’m not attacking him personally. I’m saying that even…
CF
(LAUGHS)
GT
…our allies don’t respect his leadership. He’s on…
CF
So if we bring 30,000 people into this country and we find a way to vet them and which we have done in the past.
GT
He can’t. That’s the essential problem.
CF
No, no, no. We’ve done it with 800,000 people…
GT
You cannot vet them.
CF
…since 9/11 and there are no terrorists…
GT
No, we had the FBI Director, James Comey, testify. James Comey was appointed by President Obama. He testified before Congress saying that the FBI cannot vet the Syrian refugees.
CF
Well, the FBI dropped the bomb on 9/11, because they couldn’t…
GT
His own appointee.
CF
…even use email. That’s not the standard by which you judge whether or not you help people who are dying, whether the FBI…
GT
Right and is that – are those people that you want to trust?
CF
…the FBI criticizes Apple. The FBI wants to stop Apple from having an encryption on their phones. That’s how they attack terror. Come on.
GT
I’m agreeing with you about the incompetence of government to keep the American people safe.
CF
No, no, that’s not what I said. I’m not – look, again…
GT
So we need…
CF
It’s all – for you right-wing people, it’s all about how government is really horrible and gone bad. When government wants to do something good and to help people now, then you pick them apart and you say it’s impossible to do.
GT
No, so if you want to help people, you help 12 people who are resettled…
CF
Oh, God.
GT
…in safe areas close to their country of origin.
CF
Look. Lift your head up from your talking points, Gayle, lift your head up, and start thinking. Okay. We have the ability to help 30,000 people, which, of course, is a small number compared to the refugees that we brought in since 9/11 in this country. Almost 800,000 people. How many terrorists in that 800,000 people, do you know?
GT
We’ve had 100 U.S. citizens…
CF
Zip, zip, zero.
GT
…go to the Middle East to join up with ISIS. They have U.S. Passports. At any time, they can come back here and orchestrate a Paris-style attack. ISIS has put out on social media that they are coming to the center of our nation, which is Washington D.C.
CF
And so you guys all…
GT
They’ve also…
CF
…you all get a flutter and you get afraid and then you act out.
GT
I’m not afraid.
CF
Yeah.
GT
I’m not afraid, but I want the government to…
CF
Do you think that we should have a database of all the Muslims that are in this country?
GT
Of course not, that’s ridiculous.
CF
That’s what Donald Trump says.
GT
I don’t – I never said I supported Donald Trump, did I?
CF
No, but he is, of course, the leader of your party. He’s 42 percent.
GT
He’s not the leader. He’s a presidential nominee contender and he has captured (CROSSTALK)…
CF
Who is the leader than of the GOP in your mind?
GT
…subject of immigration.
CF
Who speaks for the party right now?
GT
Who speaks for the party? The people. The grass roots. The grass roots who are saying D.C. is not listening. We gave the Republicans the majority of the house in 210. We gave the Republicans the majority position in the Senate in 2014 and each time the Republicans went to the grass roots and said, “If you give us the House, the control, we’ll oppose President Obama. If you give us the Senate majority, we will oppose President Obama and put our agenda in.” They have completely failed to do that. So you cannot say that Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican party.
CF
All right. Well, then I’ll go down. Rubio, Cruz, Bush, have all said that Christians should be let in before Muslims. Do you agree to that?
GT
There is a genocide against Christians.
CF
No, no. I just asked you a question. Do you agree that Christians should be let in before Muslims?
GT
We cannot vet who is safe from that region.
CF
Ted Cruz has said…
GT
So I would say we need a…
CF
…that he believes that Christians should be given priority over people whose values don’t coincide with American values. And then he said…
GT
That’s not a fair characterization of his position.
CF
That’s what he said. That’s what he said.
GT
He said groups in the Middle East that are minorities that are being subjected to genocide. That would include sort-of Muslim groups like the Yazidis. They’re a (CROSSTALK)…
CF
Sort-of Muslim groups? Is that technical? Sort-of Muslim groups?
GT
They are a heresy of Islam, the Yazidis. So it’s not fair to characterize Ted Cruz as saying…
CF
So how do you know when somebody comes in the country that they’re a member of that group or they’re just somebody that’s a moderate Muslim?
GT
You can’t. So I would disagree with Senator Cruz and I would say that we need to have an absolute moratorium on immigration from these high-conflict zones that have a high number of jihadists who are determined to bring America to our knees.
CF
What country did Timothy McVeigh come from?
GT
Obviously the United States.
CF
Yeah, yeah. All right. Thank you for the time, Gayle. I appreciate it. Again, a national political analyst, an attorney, and a hack. Wow.
