Jim Acosta is a knucklehead

Jim Acosta is a knucklehead. His performance at the White House press briefing on Wednesday was absolutely excruciating to watch. President Trump announced a legislative initiative to re-jigger our legal immigration system by weighting it in favor of desirable, English-speaking applicants. This seems like an eminently sane idea to me. If knowledgeable people disagree, I’d be interested in hearing their arguments. But who cares what Jim Acosta thinks? His job is to get information and relay it to the public so the public can figure things out themselves. But he didn’t do his job. He hardly ever does.

Instead he used the briefing to read presidential advisor Stephen Miller the text of the Lazarus poem and then ask whether the proposed legislation was in violation of the verse. When Miller tried to respond, Acosta kept interrupting — because why should a reporter listen to the answer to his question when he can talk more instead? Despite Acosta’s continual interruptions and grandstanding, Miller easily eviscerated the showboat blowhard. “Tell me what [immigration standards] meet Jim Acosta’s definition of the Statue of Liberty poem law of the land?” he asked hilariously. I cringed on Acosta’s behalf because I doubt Acosta has the self-awareness or dignity to cringe for himself.