For Fox Business' Dagen McDowell, trying to bring your family to a better life in America is tantamount to child abuse. This is the argument right wing media is using to mitigate the terrible optics of gassing children in diapers.
November 26, 2018

Even as disturbing images of children in diapers being tear-gassed grace the front page of the New York Post, Fox News' Outnumbered, co-host Dagen McDowell attacked the children's mother as a child abuser for trying to get her family to a better life.

Rep. Steve Scalise joined the Outnumbered crew today. The first topic was the chaos at the border when authorities shot tear gass into the crowd that consisted of men, mothers and their children in diapers.

Earlier in the discussion co-host Melissa Francis was heartbroken when she saw today's front page of the New York Post.

Adrienne Elrod said that the optics looked terrible for the Trump administration "in part because of the New York Post cover that you just cited, Melissa, that child literally has a mother, and her two children wearing diapers with tear gas being thrown at them. This is not what America feels like."

She hoped Democrats and Republicans could come together and sort this out but since Republicans have destroyed every chance at immigration reform since 2007, that's not something that most likely would happen.

Dagen McDowell, a frequent co-host on Outnumbered as well as on the Fox Business Network had these ugly words to say.

McDowell said, "Personally, I look at a photo, that horrible photo of the mother, her two children and I see child abuse, so if you're an American who believes in personal responsibility, that's a choice that the parents made."

You don't have much personal responsibility in South and Central American countries that are ruled by cartels and gangs and thugs, Dagen. These families do not live in a democratically elected government that functions as well as United States. As I typed these words, my fingers had a caustic reaction to my keyboard.

None of these mothers expected to get tear gassed and pepper sprayed, for God's sake. Here is child abuse: Staying in a country where your child could be randomly beaten, orphaned, kidnapped or killed without at least trying to get to a better place.

But there's always an apology, an excuse, a whataboutism for Trump surrogates to defend the indefensible.

Looking at the front page of the New York Post and photos in the Washington Post, a person has to be very calloused, heartless or well-paid to come to any conclusion blaming mothers for government authorities tossing tear gas at them.

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