'Trump was right' - John Kerry says Democrats allowed migrant 'siege' of US border

[Polybius]

Source: Yahoo! News

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has told the BBC his fellow Democrats allowed the US-Mexico border to be "under siege" during Joe Biden's presidency.

In sometimes sharp words, Kerry - who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 and a US senator from Massachusetts - said he told Biden the party had "missed" on the issue of immigration for years.

He said this had allowed Republicans like Donald Trump to gain political advantage.

The comments, made during an interview with BBC special correspondent James Naughtie, underscore an ongoing debate within his party over whether their pro-immigration policies cost them in recent elections.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-migration-john-kerry-says-060029585.html

[ALBliberal]

1. Unhelpful.

[slightlv]

3. Ya think?

I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of "oh, shit" we're going to discover over the next three years from various Democratic politicians. People we thought once was on the same page as us, suddenly seeming to be out in right field... for whatever reasons. Color me disappointed with this one, tho... but I figure he's just among the first. Fetterman is the first one who blew my mind, tho at first I tried to pass it off as mental issues. But, who knows... Kerry may be having the first of HIS aging mental issues, too. We've just got too dang many old people to know anymore (and I'm one of 'em!)

[hay rick]

5. Democrats second-guessing Democrats as Trump globs together an autocracy...

Trump was never "right" about immigration, he was just able to get the complicit media to adopt his "Biden border crisis" script. It's just embarrassing to see somebody like John Kerry piling on.

[LymphocyteLover]

28. Seriously-- talk about not reading the moment

[cadoman]

10. absolutely horrible thing to say about migrants simply seeking asylum and a better life

It makes me vomit that we turned these wonderful people away, particularly when we urgently need their work ethic and skills.

[Johonny]

2. Nothing Trump is doing is about the border

It's about purifying the country of people Trump thinks aren't white enough.

So Trump is absolutely fucking wrong. It's essentially un-fucking-American and insulting.

[JohnnyRingo]

38. ...but he ran on the issue of deportation.

and it turned out most voters agreed.
Of course Trump had other plans once in office, but immigration was his springboard.
Trump read the room and hammered on it from the podium.

I don't see how that is arguable.

[Johonny]

45. No he ran on racism and bigotry

Under the safe word of deportation. Every Trump voter assumed it would be someone else that was hurt and assumed they were part of the "good" people. That the majority of Americans supported bigotry and racism is awful and says terrible things about America. This is why so many people here were depressed about this election when the choice was clear.

What do democrats so about it? Biden had a comprehensive immigration bill in congress scuttled by the GOP so we know this isn't about "deportation". Do democrats stop supporting gays, women, trans, minorities, the vulnerable communities around the world . . . At what point is the acceptance of the majority simply not an acceptable position to run on? I don't see how this is arguable. Period.

[JohnnyRingo]

59. The democrats should not turn our backs on minorities.

But if we allow the republicans to define our entire platform as working for drag queens, it's not going to help on election day.
That's pretty much the brush they painted us with last year.

[AZProgressive]

56. He said other countries were emptying out their insane asylums and sending them here

He said Hannibal Lector were the kinds of people immigrating here.

It showed me two things, not only would he be cruel to immigrants based on incorrect information but that he'd also be cruel to those with mental health disabilities.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Disappointing.

[NoRethugFriends]

6. Elitist, way past his sell by date

https://images.axios.com/bWhHdX7m4E_Lctg7G57GFmXG0Fw=/0x0:3000x1688/1920x1080/2023/03/23/1679602390837.jpg?w=2048



Former presidential candidate John Kerry eats a Philly cheesesteak during a 2003 campaign stop at Pat's King of Steaks.
John Kerry and his Philly cheesesteak at Pat's in 2003. Photo: William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

We steak-ed out some of the most memorable moments in Philly cheesesteak culture. Gee whiz, the list is a doozy.

🧀 Steak-gate: Then-presidential candidate John Kerry was torched for ordering his sammy with Swiss during a visit to Pat’s King of Steaks in 2003.

And he piled on the mess by “nibbling daintily" at the sandwich as photographers clicked. Inquirer food critic Craig Laban said the Swiss cheese debacle would “doom” Kerry’s candidacy because, “in Philadelphia, that’s an alternative lifestyle.” Enough said.

[blm]

8. Kerry won Pennsylvania.

[Captain Zero]

22. He won Ohio too before the vote massaging in Tennesee

Rove sent the votes to a server in Tennessee for 3-4 hours and they came back with a Bush win. Then the guy associated with the vote massaging died in a plane crash before he could testify.

[DrFunkenstein]

15. If We Still Think A Cheesesteak Is a Basis For Voting, We Are So Screwed

This was dumb a quarter of a century ago. When people bemoan the lack of critical thinking skills in school children, this is what they mean. How are we going to confront the problems we face when we can't distinguish a dumb personal anecdote from policies that affect millions of lives?

If Kerry had become President, who knows what environmental catastrophes we could have averted by taking action back then. As far as these quotes, I can't find any source for a full interview - just cherrypicked tidbits from FoxNews and the like. As they stand, they are deeply disappointing, but they seem to stray from his previous record on the issue:

https://ontheissues.org/Cabinet/John_Kerry_Immigration.htm

[ClaudetteCC]

32. Yes it was rediculous to vote based on that

but the fakery was even more rediculous - If he happened to have an urge for a steak and swiss he could have had a campaign aid stand in line and order it for him quietly. Instead he wanted to appear as 'regular philly guy' and go there with the press following him. Similarly i doubt many believed he really wanted to 'get me a huntin license' in Iowa. Too much of campaigns are staged nonsense.

[blm]

42. Kerry has hunted since he was 10years old.

The press corps knew it and chose to distort it to protect Bush.

[ClaudetteCC]

52. I didn't know that, thanks for the info

It lead me to search it and find a pbs.org page about it.

[Wonder Why]

48. A lot of us don't understand why people vote the way they do when they obviously vote for stupidity over common sense.

They vote based on common dense[sic]!

Any little thing, no matter how minor, can sway a decision and that's without even having the help of Faux News, liars, and storytellers.

[BaronChocula]

21. "nibbling daintily," "alternative lifestyle"

That's not too deeply-coded anti-gay language much.

Go after the guy on the real merits.

[blm]

7. Democrats missed seizing control of the narrative, but, the corporate media

certainly blocked the truth from the discussion at every turn. My bet is that this article is cobbled together and quoting Kerry out of context.

[LisaM]

18. I agree...it's a misleading headline, if you can even call it that.

I think Kerry is trying to say the problem is framing, not policy.

[blm]

39. Exactly.

[Prairie Gates]

9. Herb

[johnnyfins]

11. I see that Kerry, the wizard of oz tree,

Conveniently forgot to mention the BIPARTISAN immigration bill that TSF killed. Republicans dont give a fuck about the border. They care about power, and now, dictatorship.

[MIButterfly]

12. I remember John Kerry saying that Bernie Sanders was "unelectable"

which I found really rich coming from a man who couldn't defeat a moron like George W. Bush.

I am so sick of Democrats blaming their own party for losing last year. As far as I'm concerned, it accomplishes nothing except playing right into the Republicans' hands.

[LT Barclay]

16. Something weird was going on with that and it has something to do with their Skull and Bones connection. I watched him

let Bush lie and walk all over him in a debate. Someone called in a marker and he took a fall.

[blm]

40. Kerry won all 3 debates decisively

[LT Barclay]

46. Maybe on facts, but Bush strutted around like a rooster on crack and if I remember correctly, he gained in the polls

I was just disappointed that Bush wasn’t confronted with some of the lies he was telling. I thought Kerry never showed the spark he had on his campaign

[Buddyzbuddy]

13. So I guess the Felon's administration is right about just rounding up all brown people

and sorting the illegal ones out, maybe? Is that what he got right Mr. Kerry?
How about understanding what maggot America is really doing. It is well known that minorities will out number white America in a few short years with Hispanics leading the numbers. The maggots in charge got scared and they're implementing their plan to reverse those numbers.

1. By removing brown people legally through illegal immigration, you're removing the source of new brown American citizens.
2. By going after Birthright Citizenship, which is a long shot, you might be able to reduce the population of legal brown Americans that can vote after 18 years.

That's what people like rat face Miller are worried about. The Felon is too stupid to understand that and more than his racism he feels superior to everybody and entightled. The Felon is just an opportunity for people like Miller and Leon and the truly vile racists to implement their "white plan".

So I guess you had a grudge against Biden from your years in the Senate or did you just get stupid. I can't believe I defended you for years. I still have my Kerry for President yard sign. You got screwed Mr.Kerry by the swiftboat vets, no doubt. But now you're trashing a good compassionate man to show fealty to a Felon, shame on you.

[blm]

41. You are reading this wrong.

BTW - it was Kerry who advised Obama to select Biden as VP.

[Buddyzbuddy]

50. My "guess" about a grudge against Biden was supposition on my part.

Alternatively, the other option was, did he just get stupid? I don't really give a crap about why he did it. He was wrong to have blamed Biden and to give credit to the Felon.
Sure, he's entitled to his opinion, just like we'e entitled to ours. But if that's all that you took away from what I wrote then that would be a much bigger problem than my "guess". I was actually trying to understand the reason Kerry would make such a statement in the way that he did. If what you said is true, which is a very distinct possibilty then that leaves one less rational reason for him having made the statement.
If you don't see a problem with Kerry's statement, then I see that as a problem in itself. It's possible you just wanted to correct the record, in which case I say thank you.
Have a nice day.

[blm]

54. I assume the 'report' used phrases out of context, because

it is not wrong to bemoan the fact that the messaging was not well-handled and Trump turned exploitation of the issue and our weak messaging of it into a bigger issue. We have discussed it here - the media accepted GOPs ‘open borders’ rhetoric and not enough of us fought back. I did….nearly every day I was on line.

[Buddyzbuddy]

55. I can appreciate your position and efforts.

If the report is erroneous it's incumbent upon Mr. Kerry to correct the record ASAP. I for one would like nothing better. But until or if, that occurs my statement and position on Mr. Kerry will stand.

[LT Barclay]

14. What really makes me angry is the whole "seeking a better life" BS. From what I've read we've been screwing around with

central and south america since the early 1900's. This is from Smedley Butler. Then Reagan era and the Contra rebels, supporting government death squads in El Salvador (from Nightline where a nun who was raped was telling how a CIA agent was present during her torture and rape). And finally NAFTA where we drove people off farms by sending industrialized agricultural goods south of the border.
Oh, and I forgot how we send "aid" to these countries in the form of weapons when the poor farmers have no one to turn to other than Russia/China and get labeled as "communist" for taking a stand against the corporations who take their land.
Much of this is probably a sweeping sloppy generalization. Where are you Aquafish? I know you could clean this up for me.

[demosincebirth]

17. Immigration was a big issue to many trumpers I knnow.

[LymphocyteLover]

25. because FoxNews primed that racist pump for decades

[travelingthrulife]

35. Of course it was. The mythology about hordes of people crossing the border

fooled a lot of people, usually people far away from the border.

[regnaD kciN]

53. "Too many brown people" was a big issue to many Trumpers...

Fixed it for you.

[DENVERPOPS]

19. Title should have been:

KERRY SWIFTBOATS BIDEN...........

[Polybius]

20. Perhaps Kerry should have thought of this in 2004

I don't recall him ever mentioning that Bush was weak on immigration.

[speak easy]

23. I am not going to bash John Kerry.

He has served the Democratic Party and the United States with distinction.

[Wonder Why]

49. A lot of people of distinction have turned to the Dark Side. One criticizes an action or a statement, not

by bringing up what used to be.

Some people age well. Others do not. Some get better. Some do not. Some get worse.

[twodogsbarking]

24. This has been a poorly addressed issue since Reagan. What we have done is not effective but we keep doing it

because WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT THIS WAY.

[LymphocyteLover]

26. Trump was NOT RIGHT, FFS! What a disgusting framing. However Dems definitely could have handled the

immigration issue better since it was obviously a huge issue for so many Americans.

But Dems never had the megaphone of FoxNews and had a sane, humane view of immigrants and so couldn't demagogue on it.

Immigration is a problem and REPUBLICANS consistently made it worse by refusing to agree to a border bill.

REMEMBER Trump BLOCKING Biden's border bill in 2024???

[Hope22]

27. I think * was responsible for people pouring in without documentation.

Back then it was a feature not a bug. His buddies got fat on it!I remember Kamala making visits to southern countries trying to find a solution among nations. This was her first assignment as VP. Never much publicity over time.

[Paladin]

29. Well in that case, John Kerry: Fuck yourself.

Just what we need right now: yet another trump-enabling "Democrat."

[Torchlight]

30. Yesterday's jam. nt

[FakeNoose]

31. I don't believe John Kerry is a racist, but I do believe he's disappointed with our last 3 elections

I believe he's upset with the way many Democrats are laying back and letting Chump destroy the country. His comments about the border fiasco (and blaming Biden) are coming out of that and nothing else.

Our borders were "attacked" and the immigration policies were mishandled during Joe Biden's 4 years, and during that time Biden received -zero- cooperation from the Repukes. John Kerry needs to address that.

[tmars505]

33. kerry is WRONG

the argument that without a protected border you don't have a country is nonsense and totally without merit. According to that argument, the different states in the US don't exist. If you are not part of a family of indigenous people you are part of a family of immigrants. It is only this country's innate racism that rules who can come here to live and work, and raise a family. It is only another part of the birth lottery which is destroying this country and the peoples of this planet.

[sl8]

34. Interview (audio, BBC 'Politically - Reflections'):

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/m002flhp
(audio at link)

July 10, 2025

38 minutes

James Naughtie talks to former US Secretary of State John Kerry about his life and political career.

At his home in Massachusetts, which he represented in the United States Senate for close to 30 years, Kerry discusses his experiences as a naval officer in Vietnam, how he felt the pull of politics, and what he attempted to achieve. Reflecting on the 2004 presidential election campaign, where he was the Democrat nominee against President George W. Bush, Kerry says it was the first 'fake news election'.

In four years as President Obama's Secretary of State, Kerry travelled more than a million miles around the world, and he discusses his experiences negotiating the Iran Nuclear Deal, the decision not to strike Syria, and his friendship with Benjamin Netanhayu.

And on domestic politics, Kerry has some striking advice for his party after losing the 2024 presidential election.

Producer: Giles Edwards

[Abnredleg]

36. When will we learn that perception is reality?

In a world of social media imagery is as important as policy, and the optics of immigration at the southern border was a disaster for Dems. Polling shows that the majority of the population supports immigration but they also feel that it needs to be done in a fair and controlled manner. And we can't frame the issue of controlled immigration as being ant-POC because, while MAGA obviously is pursuing a Christian Nationalist agenda, many dems and independents (many who are POC), are not concerned abut the who as much as by the numbers.

We do need, and should encourage, immigration, but it is political suicide to ignore how the GOP is framing the issue.

[JohnnyRingo]

37. That seems to ring true to me.

He is literally saying the majority of voters are against open door border policies.
And that allowed republicans to use it against us at the polls.

Need proof? See what happened to the candidate who ran on it as the bottom line of his campaign

[Marthe48]

43. How many migrants come for work

such as farming, food production, menial, do the job and return to their home country? I think that in general those people are called seasonal workers. Sure, add to the cost of of governing and screen each and every person crossing a border, but let workers come in and do the work.
To me, the term migrant means people who have a territory they use for resources, such as work, not people who leave one place and go to another permanantly. People who move permanantly are immigrants or refugees.
Traitor felon and his evil cohorts are lumping all the traveling people together and it's a disaster.

[Aristus]

44. Et tu, Ioannus?

[artemisia1]

47. Are you telling me that a Skull and Bones member is acting as an apologist for ICE and Trump's racist handling of

immigrants? Why on Earth would an elitist back another elitist? (SARCASM)

[obnoxiousdrunk]

51. Even if this

is true John Kerry shouldn't be saying this loud.

[Emile]

57. Which side is Kerry on?

[Cha]

58. It's Incredible to me that

any Dem would say "Traitor was right..".. REALLY.. in this Nazi Takeover.. WTAF!!