CNN pundits S.E. Cupp and Van Jones burst out laughing on the air Thursday after it emerged that just one person has so far been approved for Donald Trump’s so-called “gold card” visa, the scheme letting foreigners live and work in the U.S. for $1 million.
The commentators got the giggles after “OutFront” anchor Erin Burnett played footage highlighting the stark contrast between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s admission during a hearing that only one visa had been approved and his earlier boasts that more than $1 billion worth of the cards had been sold.
“Obviously, he sold one gold card for $1.3 billion,” Jones deadpanned. “That’s what happened. Simple. He wouldn’t be lying to the American people.”
“The buyer was [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” joked Burnett.
“Exactly,” Jones snarked. “I don’t know why anybody thinks that this guy might be a dishonest person. He sold one gold card. It was $1.3 billion. Next topic.”
Cupp said that “underneath the silliness of this,” it made her think “about our standing in the world” during Trump’s second term.
“Do people still want to come here?” she asked. “Are we as valuable as we think we are or as we once were? That you can’t wave this magic ticket into the greatest country in the world and get a lot of takers anymore? So it actually made me a little sad.”
Jones said Cupp made “a very good point.”
“Literally coming to America used to be a golden ticket, literally a golden ticket,” he said. More people are now leaving the country than arriving, he added, saying, “That’s not the sign of a healthy country or a healthy economy or healthy society.”
“That’s not good,” he added.
