Dave Rubin did what the mainstream media refuses to do: he amplified a private direct message and exposed a tense, revealing exchange between New York Post correspondent Lydia Moynihan and CNN anchor Abby Phillip that shows how the left tries to weaponize outrage instead of answering hard questions. The clip Rubin shared underscores a larger problem — reporters playing judge, jury, and censor to avoid dealing with uncomfortable truths about immigration and national security.
On CNN’s Table for Five, Moynihan bluntly warned that some cultural practices and criminal behaviors brought with inadequate vetting can clash with American values, citing examples like female genital mutilation and high-profile criminal incidents discussed in Europe. Abby Phillip repeatedly pressed her to name the cultures she meant, turning a real policy discussion into a gotcha moment instead of engaging with the policy issue Moynihan raised. The full exchange is captured in the network transcript and reported coverage that followed.
Anyone with a spine should applaud Moynihan for refusing to let the conversation be shut down by moral grandstanding. Rather than confronting the substance — how do we protect women, how do we prevent bad actors from exploiting asylum and refugee systems — CNN chose to pose coy questions and smear those raising concerns as bigots. That is exactly why millions of Americans have stopped trusting the so-called experts on cable news.
The practical issue here is not xenophobia; it is common-sense vetting and assimilation policy. Moynihan was right to say vetting matters, and conservatives should hammer that point home: merit-based admissions, stricter background checks, more robust asylum screening, and mandatory integration programs are reasonable steps to protect communities and preserve our national character. Voters should demand policymakers enact them and punish officials who leave borders porous.
It’s also important to be precise about the danger: the threat comes from extremists and criminals who exploit loose systems, not from whole faiths or entire peoples. Honest conservatives will say that loud and then press for targeted measures that stop radicalization, improve intelligence sharing, and keep dangerous offenders out of our neighborhoods. The media’s reflex to conflate caution with hatred is cowardice, not journalism.
This episode should be a wake-up call for patriotic Americans fed up with a double-standard press corps. When a mainstream outlet like CNN tries to humiliate someone for raising security concerns, it reveals whose side the media are on — and it is not the side of ordinary citizens who want safe streets, prosperous towns, and a country that survives its next generation. Conservatives must keep amplifying these conversations until common-sense policy wins.
