The mainstream media’s response to the deportation of Kilmar Abrego García, an alleged MS-13 gang member and illegal alien from El Salvador, continues to expose just how disconnected the press has become from reality—and from the American people they claim to inform. Case in point: the latest panel discussion on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, affectionately referred to by some as the “Thunderdome” for its chaotic, one-sided exchanges.
This particular meltdown came on the heels of El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s visit to the White House. During the visit, President Trump reiterated that Abrego García—who entered the U.S. illegally, was ordered deported, and is now imprisoned in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison—will not be returning to the United States. Despite a recent Supreme Court ruling stating that the administration must “facilitate” (but not guarantee) his return amid ongoing litigation, the Trump team has made it clear: there is no version of reality where this man stays in America.
Another classic Abby Phillip cutoff, as @ScottJenningsKY begins to lay out the immigration court findings f MS-13 affiliation against Kilmar Abrego Garcia pic.twitter.com/J0lGIX2kyR
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 15, 2025
But CNN’s panelists weren’t having it. The discussion quickly derailed into a classic display of hair-splitting and gaslighting over Abrego García’s gang ties.
Enter conservative commentator Scott Jennings, who tried to explain the Trump administration’s position. “For the Trump administration, there is no version of this man’s life that ends up with him living in the United States,” Jennings said. “He’s an illegal alien…with a deportation order, and in their view—and the view of some immigration courts—he has an affiliation with MS-13.”
Cue the interruption.
Abby Phillip, ever the gatekeeper of the left’s narrative, immediately cut in: “That’s not quite what it is.” She then proceeded to nitpick the MS-13 connection, insisting the administration has not provided “concrete evidence” and parroting García’s own courtroom denial as fact. Jennings attempted to clarify, but was once again talked over and dismissed before making his point.
This is not journalism—it’s spin control.
As Jennings tried to highlight, immigration courts had enough credible information to validate the gang affiliation and issue the deportation order. Yet CNN’s response was not to examine that evidence—but to deny, downplay, and pivot. Because when it comes to illegal immigrants with possible criminal ties, the media’s instinct is not to investigate—but to protect.
.@ScottJennings triggers the panel: “And, you know, we keep calling this guy Maryland Man in the press. Nobody seems to worry about the Maryland mother, Rachel Morin, who was murdered by someone that the previous administration let out of jail. So this is a visceral political-… pic.twitter.com/aT2C2MEG3o
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 15, 2025
Then Jennings delivered the line of the night: while the media obsesses over the rights of alleged MS-13 members, a Maryland mother, Rachel Morin, was raped and murdered by a different illegal alien—and the media was silent.
“You never heard about the process of this trial in the news,” Jennings pointed out. “Unlike, say, the Idaho college murders, which we hear about all the time.”
Let that sink in.
