by Jeffrey Rendall
Have Democrats got something here, or have they really lost it?
The question passed through my mind as a member of my church stood up a couple Sundays ago to request special prayers for the “families” with kids being separated from parents down along the southern border, genuinely implying there was a true humanitarian crisis at hand in America. Fellow church parishioners nodded in agreement to the man’s plea and many a petition was instantly heaven-sent for the sake of children and parents whom we’ll most assuredly never meet and who likely will be deservedly deported right back to whence they came.
We shouldn’t have a problem praying for these folks – it’s the human condition, right? A little divine intervention here could only be a positive thing.
But Democrats are taking this child-separation issue to the extreme, rejecting every overture from President Trump or congressional Republicans to not only aid those impacted by the government’s official policies, but also to deal with the illegal immigration problem itself.
The minority party’s lack of interest in the authentic dilemma exposes their naked ploy to milk the crisis for every political chit it’s worth. Here’s thinking such a flawed strategy is destined to backfire. Michael Goodwin wrote at the New York Post over the weekend, “Rasmussen reports that 54 percent of likely voters said the parents are more to blame for the crisis, against 35 percent who say the government is more to blame.
“Meanwhile, the left is going in the opposite direction by uniting behind California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who turned 85 last week and is seeking another six-year term. Trying to rally the far-left base in her blue state, Feinstein authored a bill that would, among other things, prohibit an arrest for illegal entry anywhere within 100 miles of a border. Incredibly, the other 48 Senate Dems signed on, meaning they’ve all cast their lots with an outlandishly radical policy.
“Yet Feinstein and others insist they don’t favor open borders. OK, then, let’s put it this way: they favor no borders and want the US to admit the whole world, free of charge and no questions asked.”
Yes, it appears Democrats have finally gone over the edge, putting forth a proposal to completely shackle the U.S. border patrol in its official mission to stem the flow of “undocumented” individuals streaming in from the Mexico side of the line. DiFi and her Democrat pals must realize such an amplified emotional impulse would never become law – to be placed on the statute books a bill would have to get through the senate (assuming a RINO or twelve would agree to it) and the House and then receive a signature from President Trump.
If Trump assented to something like this (or any amnesty-centered bill) it would be like signing his own reelection death knell, effectively signaling betrayal to everyone who voted for him in 2016 precisely because he promised to eradicate illegal immigration. In other words, there’s a snowball’s chance in Hades of DiFi’s dream ever taking place; Trump ain’t dumb.
Therefore, it’s all just a show. Democrats aren’t even hiding their pandering for open borders anymore. At least prior to now they’d pay lip service to the preponderance of Americans who believe in societal order and American exceptionalism – instead they’ve effectively strapped on sombreros, swilled shots of Tequila and hedged all bets on fooling enough gullible people into granting them a majority to work their will against Trump’s.
That’s not going to happen…not over this bloated bag full of media hot air.
Trump looks like a loser to Democrats but once again he’s used the additional exposure on family separation to drive home the larger point that America has borders and they need to be enforced, even if it’s inconvenient for the lawbreakers. Signing an executive order requiring families to be kept together sticks a thumb in the Democrats’ eyes while simultaneously vowing, once again, to keep Trump’s campaign promises to ultimately solve the issue.
As the Rasmussen Reports survey (cited by Goodwin above) indicates the voting public isn’t buying the media’s (and Democrats’) façade that illegal immigration is a humanitarian crisis of the Trump government’s making. If anything, the media is helping jar the Republican base out of its self-imposed stupor due to the GOP’s feckless failures in Congress.
How could Democrats be so obtuse as to suppose people who’re fed up with illegal immigration would be brought over to their cause simply by exposing images of detention centers filled with forlorn children? It’s a public relations miscalculation of epic proportions. Common sense dictates we need more border protection, not less (or none).
The Editors of the Washington Examiner wrote, “As a people…we must maintain our right to control our membership. It is therefore a natural function of government to police our borders. The U.S. is the greatest country in the world. Nearly 7 billion people live outside the U.S., and most of them would probably prefer to live here if they could. We cannot take them all. That requires us to have standards, and to approve some and not others.
“So, we can’t, or rather mustn’t, simply stop enforcing immigration laws, and we can’t say come all who wish…
“Without borders and border enforcement, there is no clear definition of the polity. Democracy cannot exist without a clearly defined polity. That’s why the European project of replacing nation-states with a continent-wide super-state, with porous borders both internally and externally, has been so undemocratic. Elites are fine with a shifting populous, because the public aren’t ‘us’ in an important sense. The elite tribe, spanning borders, is their ‘us’ that makes the rules.”
It’s true; the political elite (more commonly known as swamp creatures) believe life exists in a vacuum where souls are driven only by prejudicial anxieties of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, etc… to discriminate against those who are different. It’s nonsense. How many of these elites would be willing to erase the line between their property and their neighbor’s?
Would Democrat senators agree to dissolve geographic boundaries with other states too? Why not just disperse federal benefits to anyone in the world who asks for them? Maybe citizens of Namibia can begin applying for Medicaid under Obamacare. Kim Jong-un need not give up his nukes after all – if he waits long enough every North Korean will qualify for a social security check after Democrats retake the White House someday.
Similarly, how many of these open borders advocates are ready to share unused space in their oversized mansions with individuals or families who just immigrated illegally? Instead of placing illegal children with U.S. based relatives or foster families why not just set up a climate-controlled tent city on the back lawns of Democrat politicians’ homes?
It would make for a terrific photo-op for Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to be shown serving healthy vittles n’ grits and Kool-Aid to malnourished youths with sunken eyes and protruding rib cages. Perhaps they could even bring in a nurse to administer immunization shots to the children in front of the cameras. This type of event would draw serious coverage on the evening news and probably earn a quarter hour segment on 60 Minutes.
But the liberal hypocrites won’t do it; the “crisis” is still far away and the news media is already doing the heavy lifting of convincing the public that Trump is a heartless tyrant who rips kids out of the arms of their mothers and imprisons them Nazi-style in concentration camps.
Understanding the short attention spans of the American public, this too will pass. But how long will it take? Victor Davis Hanson wrote at American Greatness, “A month from now there will be a new manufactured news story that Donald Trump is savage, represents an existential danger, or is unhinged. We will hear of another Trump official cornered and driven out from a liberal-owned Beltway or New York City restaurant. An unhinged Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) will rant some more about impeachment.
“And then the current hysteria over the border detainments will be filed, and go the way of the ‘s—hole countries’ frenzy or Melania’s jacket melodrama…
“The American people know that there was not a Holocaust on their border and that their often slandered border patrol officers are not the Waffen SS, that Mexico does not act like a particularly friendly power, that illegal aliens will do almost anything to enter a country illegally, which, otherwise, many do not seem especially fond of once they make it in, and that the progressive movement must somehow abort Donald Trump’s presidency before a booming economy and a more secure world abroad make that impossible.”
As usual Hanson does a sensational job of putting the latest “crisis” in perspective, listing (not necessarily in order) most or all of the media-created “scandals” that plagued Trump over the last few years, every single one accompanied by media pundit predictions of future doom for Trump and Republicans at the ballot box.
It wasn’t all that long ago, for example, that Democrats, the media and liberals were forecasting serious repercussions for the GOP over the gun control issue. Snot-nosed Florida teen David Hogg was the toast of Sunday morning establishment news hosts as he publicly chided Republicans for being tools of the NRA. Now DiFi and her Democrat henchmen moved on from bellyaching over “assault rifles” to suggesting no illegal alien should be detained or arrested within 100 miles of the border (I wonder if it applies to the Canadian line as well?).
Hanson also points out with the recent Inspector General’s report and various congressional investigations proving there was culpability on the part of high-ranking members of the deep state and the Obama administration, the once politically potent (and potentially lethal) Robert Mueller investigation has devolved into a running joke. One thing it’s managed to do is leave Trump and his campaign looking clean as a whistle.
Sooner or later the well-informed and thinking members of the public will instinctively ignore the media tantrum of the hour over something Trump (or his administration) allegedly did and assume the story is either biased or grossly exaggerated. It’ll be like a giant cultural manifestation of “The boy who cried wolf” resulting in glazed-over eyes, dull expressions and a renewed interest in researching Republican candidates in these races.
Conservatives aren’t alone in speculating the Democrats’ (and their followers’) excesses could backfire on them. James Hohmann wrote in the Washington Post, “All of this reflects widespread progressive disgust with Trump, which has been inflamed by his policy of separating immigrant families, and anyone implementing or even defending the president’s agenda.
“But these episodes, which have gone viral on social media, risk backfiring by playing into Trump’s hands. It supercharges the president’s sense of grievance and gives fodder for the argument, made in his stump speech, that he and his followers are disrespected. In a backlash to the backlash, there’s evidence in the polls of Republicans rallying around the flag. The nastiness could also alienate and depress middle-of-the-road independents who prize pluralism.”
Hohmann detailed recent instances of public harassment Trump (or Republican) officials have endured at the hands of enraged leftist activists. Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant because of her affiliation to Trump. This could only end badly for the minority party. Democrats have lost control of the unhinged nutcases in their own base.
Democrats think they’re clever by squeezing every bit of outrage over the illegal immigrant separation issue but history suggests they’re wasting their time. Just like with every instance of rage they’ve drummed up over Trump, they’re only shooting themselves in the electoral foot.
