Trump Joins Wall Supporters Mocking CNN's Jim Acosta on Twitter Over Border Video: 'Dear Diary…'

donald trump border wall mexico
US President Donald Trump arrives at McAllen International Airport on January 10, 2019, in McAllen,Texas. Trump traveled to the US-Mexico border as part of his all-out offensive to build a wall. JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump joined his army of supporters on Twitter in mocking his regular sparring partner, CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, who posted videos from a fenced area of the southern border to show there is no crisis as the White House claims.

Trump, quote-tweeting one of Acosta's videos on Twitter, wrote derisively: "Dear diary…"

Read more: The White House is planning to suspend Jim Acosta's press pass again

Acosta shot the brief videos at McAllen, Texas, one of the crossing points for migrants coming over the southern border. "Here are some of the steel slats that the president's been talking about right here," Acosta said in his first video.

"But as we're walking along here, we're not seeing any kind of imminent danger, there are no migrants trying to rush toward this fence here in the McAllen, Texas, area… no sign of the national emergency that the president has been talking about. As a matter of fact, it's pretty tranquil down here."

In a follow-up video at the fence, Acosta said: "Now one thing we should point out, these steel slats don't run the length of the entire border here in McAllen, Texas.

"As a matter of fact, this point where we're standing right now there is a chain link fence behind me and then some brush and some trees before you hit the Rio Grande river.

"Talking to folks, there are migrants who come through this area, but a lot of the residents we talked to say this is a very safe community and that they don't see migrants coming into their community causing a lot of crime and mayhem."

Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, also took aim at Acosta over the border videos.

"Of course you don't [see a crisis] Jim," Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter. "That's because walls work. Thanks for your help proving @realDonaldTrump's point and simultaneously creating one of the best self-own videos ever!!!"

I found some steel slats down on the border. But I don’t see anything resembling a national emergency situation.. at least not in the McAllen TX area of the border where Trump will be today. pic.twitter.com/KRoLdszLUu

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

The steel slats don’t run the entire length of the border in the McAllen area. We found one part where there is a chain link fence. Occasionally migrants come thru but residents say their community is quite safe. pic.twitter.com/ivpPl0XT48

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

Dear Diary... https://t.co/NAuMaQW6fl

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2019

Of course you don’t Jim. That’s because walls work. Thanks for your help proving @realDonaldTrump’s point and simultaneously creating one of the best self-own videos ever!!! https://t.co/QVXsJTwFh8

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 10, 2019

I know this might be hard for you to comprehend Jimbo, but the reason why all of Twitter has been mocking you today is because you were at a part of the border WITH A WALL. So yes, of course it was working. Replicate that across the border & we’ll all be safer. #RealNews #ByeBye https://t.co/BtdJ3GcxSV

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 10, 2019

I am *shocked* that a glib video, customized for re-tweets and filmed in broad daylight along one of the more secure parts of the RGV by a reporter who parachuted in for the day, did not reveal anything dramatic. https://t.co/TgPzMtU8pl

— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) January 10, 2019

Imagine if a CNN reporter drove to a small town in western PA, whipped out his phone and said, "I found a white working class town, but I don't see any corpses of heroin addicts lying around in the streets..." https://t.co/g4D5Bjnvhx

— John Daniel Davidson (@johnddavidson) January 10, 2019

Glad to see the steel slats are deterring illegal immigrants from attempting to cross the border exactly as @realDonaldTrump said they would. This is why we need to #BuildTheWall along the rest of our southern border. #WallsWork https://t.co/EWJYbq78Dn

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) January 10, 2019

Hey Jim @Acosta,

You’re making Trump’s case better than he can!#BorderSecurity https://t.co/rIHsInK4oU

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 10, 2019

Jim Acosta just posted one of the biggest self owns ever.

He's walking along the border where there's a wall in place talking about how there's nothing that "resembles a national emergency situation" and "there's no migrants trying to rush."

That's because there's a wall, Jim. https://t.co/qkuWRhxolW

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 10, 2019

Idiot Acosta proves the wall works. https://t.co/WgvZtzkqT9

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) January 10, 2019

The president visited McAllen on Thursday to talk about what he calls the "national security and humanitarian crisis" at the border. This crisis, he argues, justifies building a wall all along the Mexico border.

But House Democrats, who hold a majority, are refusing to pass any budget that allocates any funding to Trump's border wall specifically. They say it costs too much money, does not work, and is responding to a security crisis that does not exist.

Read more: Trump demanded reporters act with "decorum" after CNN's Jim Acosta had his press pass reinstated

Trump is demanding $5.7 billion but won't back down and is threatening to use his national emergency powers to get the money he wants, bypassing Congress altogether.

As a consequence of this budget impasse between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, the federal government is shut down leaving 800,000 federal employees unpaid.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Shane Croucher is a Senior Editor based in London, UK. He oversees the My Turn team. He has previously overseen ... Read more

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