On Wednesday's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish played a campaign ad from Rick Jackson, winner of Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary, in which Jackson promised voters that criminal illegals who “commit sick, violent crimes, victimize our children, and get away with murder” would, if he becomes governor, “end up deported or departed.”  The spot featured the case of José Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant who murdered Laken Riley. Cornish pounced: “I said [saw?] the death threat at the end of that.” She added that what she heard was “culture war.” According to Cornish, the message was simply telling voters, “Hey, remember how you hate those people and that people, and these people shouldn't come over the border.” Americans don’t “hate” legal immigrants, but they sure do hate illegal aliens who rape and murder Americans like Laken Riley. What about you, Audie? Why is it a "culture war" to object to illegal alien murderers? Jackson was simply pledging to enforce that law, especially given that the local prosecutor in Ibarra’s case has a policy of always refusing to seek the death penalty. Yet for Cornish, Jackson's straightforward tough-on-crime promise was apparently the real outrage. Later, when talk turned to affordability, conservative Terry Schilling pointed out that not even one Democrat member of Congress will vote against taxpayer-funded sex change procedures. The conversation turned heated. Dem strategist Antjuan Seawright repeatedly called Schilling's point a “distraction.” CNN’s Cornish: Georgia GOP Candidate’s Pledge to Deport or ‘Depart’ Illegal Alien Murderers a ‘Death Threat pic.twitter.com/xSTtOLLRJH — Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) June 17, 2026 Naturally, Cornish responded with her usual inclination to admonish conservatives for changing the subject from her liberal narrative, cutting Schilling short: “Let me just pause for a second, ’cause we weren’t talking about trans health care, and I feel like we’re going on a journey here, Terry, so let’s, let’s journey back to the news today.” By embracing the left’s activist euphemism “trans health care” for sex change surgeries, and siding with Seawright’s "distraction" accusation, Cornish made CNN’s priorities crystal clear: a pledge to deport or execute illegal immigrant murderers is a “death threat” and “culture war,” but challenging taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries is verboten, and not “the news today.” Classic CNN. Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 6/17/26 6:34 am EDT AUDIE CORNISH: When we're talking about Oklahoma and Alabama, that's one thing.  Georgia to me is a special case because of its role in the 2020 election, and the role Republicans there faced in rejecting the Trump administration at a time, in its attempts to overturn the election.  And I-- between that and the Marjorie Taylor Greene of it all, it feels like the Republican politics there are a little more scrambled. So is it the money? Is it also the local? TERRY SCHILLING: I, I think it's a little bit of everything, obviously. I think we're seeing now that the, the, what the value of a Trump endorsement is, and it's a hundred million dollars.  But one thing I will point out is that Mike Collins is a solid, MAGA candidate. He is America first all the way, and you could actually make the argument that while, in the gubernatorial race, the Trump endorsed candidate didn't win, the Trump candidate won, right? So why wouldn't Trump back him? SCHILLINGh: Well, look, there are all different types of reasons to endorse people, but Rick Jackson, if you listen to his comments last night, he's the outsider. He's the guy running on pro-family, family-centered economics. He wants to halve the state income tax, like, for everyone.  CORNISH: Here's the thing, he's not-- You talking about Rick Jackson? SCHILLING: Rick Jackson.  CORNISH: All right, here's what he's running on though. I wanna play an ad, 'cause what you're saying is very interesting, but this is what he told the voters. RICK JACKSON AD: I don't care if you're Muslim or Mongolian, you don't have the right to force your culture on our country. Conservative Rick Jackson. Too often, criminal illegals commit sick, violent crimes, victimize our children, and get away with murder [photo of Laken Riley's murderer appears on screen.] So here's my guarantee to them. Do that when I'm governor, and you'll end up deported, or departed. Rick Jackson for Georgia. Any questions? CORNISH: I said [saw?] a death threat at the end of that. I don't know if there's a Mongolian human trafficking ring going on. But what I hear is culture war. It's not gas prices, it was not affordability, it wasn't any of those things.  Antoine, is the return of a culture war argument a weakness for Democrats? ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT: I don't know. I can summarize these primaries -- CORNISH: Never say I don't know, do you know that? Like that, that is, that's a telling thing. SEAWRIGHT: Well, you know, it's hard to say because, and this is why it's hard to say. Number one, I think the Republican primary contests have been about who can be most loyal or who can wrap their arms most around Donald Trump.  I think on the Democratic side has been, it has been a generational divide and an ideological conversation, and, and I think both of those things will look different in a general election.  And I'll tell you, I think the ice is melting in the Donald Trump cup. I think he's had a chilling effect on the Republican primaries, what we saw in Iowa, we saw in Georgia, and we've seen with some of the candidates.  CORNISH: But is that why, then, their candidates would turn to those kinds of messages that do resonate instead of focusing on, "Here's what Trump did, this is a referendum on him, let's have a fight about the Iran war," what they're saying is, "Hey, remember how you hate those people and that people, and these people shouldn't come over the border. We should go back to that conversation." SEAWRIGHT: Well, I think they cannot run away from the reality that Donald Trump's economy has been a failure for them. Voters are gonna vote on affordability and feeling economics, economics you and I can feel, and I think they failed on that. If you look at Georgia, you look at Oklahoma, you look at what's likely gonna happen in South Carolina, you look at what happened in Iowa just last week or a week before last, the, the narrative have been the same. Farmers, rural voters, those who voted for Trump are feeling the effect of a Donald Trump failing economy. SCHILLING: And here's where it gets challenging for, for your party, Antoine. You guys are going to have a really hard time arguing about affordability when you can't get a single Democrat in the House or the Senate to vote against taxpayer-funded sex change procedures, sex rejection procedures. SEAWRIGHT: So, so, no, no, no, no, no.  SCHILLING: $100,000. You're going to tax us over that? SEAWRIGHT: We're not going to distract from the reality that everyday Americans -- SCHILLING: -- The affordability --  SEAWRIGHT: You want to come on programs like this, and you want to distract on these issues that Americans are not talking about -- SCHILLING: Distract? You're taking my tax dollars -- SEAWRIGHT: You cannot find one American in this country who's not screaming and yelling about the prices of gas, goods, and services --  SCHILLING: -- or their taxes! SEAWRIGHT: That's what the American vote for -- and that's why you have failed since Donald Trump has taken office.  CORNISH: Let me let just pause for a second, 'cause we weren't talking about trans health care, and I feel like that -- SEAWRIGHT: -- It's just a distraction.  CORNISH: We're going on a journey here, Terry, so let's, let's journey back to the news today.