Another day, another unhinged segment from the corporate press, where accuracy takes a backseat to narrative and personal attacks are mistaken for journalism.
In this latest example, we return to CNN’s NewsNight With Abby Phillip, where the panel managed to pack a stunning combination of misinformation, smears, and petty theatrics into under a minute—courtesy of Tiffany Cross, the former MSNBC host who was fired in 2022 for comments that even MSNBC couldn’t stomach.
During the segment, Cross lashed out at Donald Trump, his immigration policies, and—without any factual basis—his wife, Melania Trump. She claimed the former First Lady “usurped the immigration system” and questioned her qualifications for an EB-1A visa, often referred to (informally) as the “Einstein Visa.” The implication? That Melania, as a former model, didn’t deserve the visa and therefore must have gamed the system.
The problem with that assertion is simple: it’s false.
The EB-1A visa isn’t reserved solely for Nobel laureates and physicists. It covers a wide range of fields—including the arts, where models and performers have regularly qualified if they demonstrate sustained national or international acclaim. Melania Trump entered the U.S. legally, received a green card lawfully, and later became a naturalized citizen—hardly the profile of someone who “usurped” the system, a word that refers to taking power by illegal means.
Cross’s choice of language wasn’t accidental. Her narrative hinges on framing Melania as “illegal” to further tarnish President Trump’s immigration policy by associating it with supposed hypocrisy. But smearing a naturalized U.S. citizen by suggesting she’s an undocumented immigrant is not just misleading—it’s defamatory.
Cross didn’t stop there. She moved on to Stephen Miller, calling him a “white nationalist” and claiming “all the reporting” confirms this. What reporting? None of substance. Miller has long been the left’s favorite target due to his firm stance on border security and his authorship of many of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Labeling him a white nationalist without evidence is not journalism—it’s slander masquerading as analysis.
This is the formula: abandon facts, rely on character assassination, and cloak it all in activist rhetoric. What’s worse, outlets like CNN and personalities like Cross continue to operate as though there’s no difference between legal immigration, illegal immigration, and policy enforcement. The distinction is foundational to the rule of law—but they would rather erase it.
And yet, they still don’t understand why trust in the mainstream press is in free fall. They’re too busy chasing clicks and applause from their Twitter followings to notice that the rest of the country is tuning out.
