Bongino rips media hypocrisy of COVID travel bans, 'fear' campaigns
'Unfiltered' host Dan Bongino reacts to President Biden limiting travel from eight African countries after previously calling COVID travel bans 'xenophobic' and 'racist'
Dan Bongino, host of Fox News' "Unfiltered," on Saturday said President Biden is "replicating what he himself called racist" by implementing a "travel ban" on eight African countries as the omicron coronavirus variant spreads.
The White House moved Friday to implement travel restrictions on South Africa and seven other countries in the region, with some exemptions. The changes are set to begin on Monday.
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"There are so many layers to this. Here's the easy, kind of superficial one: Joe Biden's a fraud. Okay, great, we already knew that," Bongino began on "Fox & Friends" Saturday morning. "But here's the deeper layer to this: The Democrat Party is the biggest grift in the history of humankind. There has never been a bigger donor scam, collectively, in the history of humanity than the Democrat Party."
Dan Bongino hosts ‘The Dan Bongino Show’ from the Patriot Awards location.
He added that the party believes "absolutely nothing they say."
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"Trump did a travel ban from some of these same countries in the reason when there [were] a lot of unknowns and they thought it could have worked. Now, a year and a half later, we already know these travel bans … have done nothing to stop the delta, they've done nothing to stop any other variant out there," he said, adding that Biden is "replicating what he himself called racist" by implementing his own travel restrictions from certain countries.
A military officer wearing a protective suit gives instructions to evacuees from Wuhan, China, as they travel to a hospital after their arrival at a military base in Wroclaw, Poland. (AP Photo/Arek Rataj, File)
Trump at the start of 2020, when COVID-19 began spreading throughout the world, restricted travel from China and an additional six countries including Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania.
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Trump's initial travel restrictions, issued in 2017, set new criteria for visa applicants and refugees from six predominantly Muslim countries over concerns that individuals coming from those countries could not be properly vetted.
"We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus," Biden tweeted as a presidential candidate last year the day after Trump imposed travel restrictions from China into the United States. "We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency."
President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media in Nantucket, Mass., Friday, Nov. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Biden also referred to Trump's temporary immigration ban from certain African countries as a "disgrace."
Biden later attempted to walk back the xenophobic comment and claimed during a debate that he was making a broad point about xenophobia and not directly referring to the travel ban.
"A wall will not stop the coronavirus," Biden tweeted in March of 2020. "Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it. This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it."
In addition to the U.S., the European Union, United Kingdom and Israel have halted air travel to southern Africa in response to the new variant.
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
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