Dr. Phil admitted in an interview with The New York Times published on Sunday that “I don’t think I’m qualified to talk about politics.” It’s a remark that raised eyebrows online given Dr. Phil has publicly backed Donald Trump and taken part in ICE raids, be it personally in Chicago or by sending a camera crew to cover them in Los Angeles for his MeritTV network. According to The Times, Dr. Phil told ICE agents that his network was embedded with them to “tell your story and have your back.”
The quote in The Times was also published less than two days after Dr. Phill appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO talk show “Real Time” and got into a heated debate with the host over his participation in ICE raids (via New York Post). It started when Maher asked: “Why are you going on these ICE raids? I don’t understand that. You’re a guy who we know for so many years who has been working to put families together. To bring families who are apart and heal them. And now you’re going on raids with people who are literally separating families.”
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“Well, now that’s bullshit,” Dr. Phil responded before defending his actions. “Look, if you arrest somebody that’s a citizen, that has committed a crime or is DUI’d with a child in the backseat, do you think they don’t separate that family right then, right there? Of course they do!”
“But that’s not what’s going on,” Maher countered.
Dr. Phil said he had seen “files” that proved why the ICE raids he was on were needed, explaining: “They’ve got a rap sheet, 12, 14 different cases long of child predators that they’re taking off the street… These are the worst first that they’re taking off the streets. Who would want them back in their communities?”
Earlier in the episode, Maher criticized ICE agents for wearing masks so that they can’t be noticed by the public. The mask wearing is allegedly the result of these agents being doxxed online.
“[Legislators are] putting their names, their pictures, their addresses of their families on the internet, they’re putting them on telephone poles,” Dr. Phil said. “So, of course, they’re wearing masks so they don’t get outed, so people can do violence against their families.”
Earlier this summer, Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — and the TV talk-show host’s company sued former partner Trinity Broadcasting Network, alleging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.
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