Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski ignited an explosive on-air exchange with a former senior DNC adviser over immigration policy.
Lewandowski reacted to news that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo planned to sue the Trump administration over its “zero tolerance” policy for illegal immigrants, during a segment on Fox News on Tuesday.
“As soon as you cross the border illegally, you have committed an act which is a disservice to all of the people who have stood in line and waited to get into this country legally. And this governor doesn’t understand what that means and he thinks it’s his path forward but it’s not,” he told host Sandra Smith, who then asked former Hillary Clinton staffer Zac Petkanas for his thoughts.
As Petkanas turned to a story of “a ten-year-old girl with Down syndrome who is taken from her mother and put in a cage,” Lewandowski interrupted with a “womp womp” sound.
“Did you say ‘wah, wah,’ about a ten-year-old with Down Syndrome being taken from her mother? ” Petkanas asked, exploding in anger. “How dare you? How dare you? How absolutely dare you, sir? How dare you? We have infants who are being taken from their mothers. We have infants that are being stolen from they mothers and put into cages.”
.@Zac_Petkanas says on Fox News a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome was separated from her mother at the border.
Corey Lewandowski responds: “Womp womp.” pic.twitter.com/cZMXWmwbjw
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 19, 2018
Lewandowski pushed back, doubling down on what the law says.
“When you cross the border illegally, when you commit a crime, you are taken away from you family because that’s how this country works,” he said.
The backlash against Lewandowski was immediate.
This is so horrible, even by Lewandowski standards. https://t.co/4SNBUtCgfu
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) June 20, 2018
Womp womp will be the sound Corey Lewandowski’s soul makes as it descends to Hell
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) June 20, 2018
There hasn’t really been a good reason to put Lewandowski on TV for some time now, but this should be a good enough reason to never do it again https://t.co/QGa4XBteyK
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) June 20, 2018
The key to understanding Corey Lewandowski is that he is probably an ambulatory psychotic https://t.co/R9LSQGxFj1
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) June 20, 2018
There is no low to which this coward Corey Lewandowski won’t sink. This man should not be afforded a national platform to spew his hate. https://t.co/M8adu7P2sf
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 20, 2018
But the former Trump campaign manager defended his remarks Wednesday on Fox News, explaining that he was mocking the liberal Petkanas for “politicizing” the immigration issue by making an example of a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome.
.@SandraSmithFox to Corey Lewandowski: Do you feel that you owe an apology of any sort?
Corey: “An apology? I owe an apology to the children whose parents are putting them in a position that is forcing them to be separated….” pic.twitter.com/U7XiCBgC6N
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) June 20, 2018
“An apology? I owe an apology to the children whose parents are putting them in a position that is forcing them to be separated. We owe an apology to Jamiel Shaw and Brian Terry and Kate Steinle’s family who have allowed those individuals to be killed by illegal aliens,” Lewandowski said. “The American people owe an apology to those people. When you cross the border illegally, you have committed a crime and there is accountability for committing crimes and there should be.”
The damage was done, however.
Mocking a ten-year old girl with Down Syndrome who has been separated from her parents is the easiest way to tell the world you are a garbage human being. Corey Lewandowski is trash. https://t.co/6QP7ySDncw
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) June 20, 2018
If only we’d had some inkling that Corey was a dick https://t.co/ZbLM3sEs6L
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) June 20, 2018
Thisisfinedog.gif https://t.co/xzcSxdzbRc
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 20, 2018
But many did see what Lewandowski was really aiming at.
He wasn’t mocking the child. He was mocking the Lib who was practicing his agenda-oriented talking points while using Down syndrome as a political chess piece to make the story sound worse. That Zack is a hack. #BuildThatWall
— Ariana (@acontinanzi) June 20, 2018
Exactly.
But just like the WWE, this guy went into full fake outrage mode and now #nevertrump is jumping on it too. They still are mad at Corey because of how he embarrassed Michelle Fields.
— Name Cannot Be Blank (@Bagginator) June 20, 2018
Downs syndrome kids? You mean like the ones they support killing in the womb because they might be a burden? Those kids?
— Coder4Liberty (@Coder4Liberty) June 20, 2018
???? how absolutely dare you!
— Tom Merk (@TMerk81) June 20, 2018
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