By Dick Polmans
What a hoot it was – hoot is the mildest word I can conjure – to hear House Speaker Mike Johnson insist on “Meet the Press” that he is master of his domain. When asked whether America’s most detestable criminal defendant is pulling his strings, Johnson said: “He’s not calling the shots. I am calling the shots.”
Permit me to fact check. Johnson’s head is so far up Trump’s rear, he can smell Putin.
Right-wing Republicans have squawked since forever that the only way to save this country from being overrun by non-white immigrants is to enact tough enforcement at the southern border. But now that they’ve finally gotten what they’ve always professed to want – a bipartisan Senate bill, with President Biden moving rightward in the spirit of compromise – Johnson and the rest of his MAGA misfits are decreeing that the whole package is DOA in the House.
These denizens of Dysfunction Junction have no interest in governance. They’re performance artists in thrall to a contemporary Caligula who wants to bang on the border crisis as a campaign issue. Trump has spoken “at length” with Johnson, his House pet, about the border crisis (we know this because those quoted words are Johnson’s), and Trump has made it crystal clear that if the House were to vote for an actual solution, and that if Biden were to sign that actual solution, Trump would lose one of his favorite demagogic weapons.
Far better, in other words, to sabotage a set of hawkish solutions that Republicans have long wanted – billions of bucks to increase border staff, beefed up anti-fentanyl trafficking, far tougher standards that asylum seekers must meet in order to stay in America, emergency provisions that would allow the feds to shut down the border, and much more.
Conservative commentator David Frum calls it “a border hawk’s dream bill, plus frosting and candles…Republicans will never get a better bill than this. If they say No now, they are saying they prefer border chaos.”
But chaos is precisely the point. That and fear-mongering. That’s how Trump got traction in 2016, and he needs to recycle those toxic elements now, to scare people and thus distract from his 91 felony counts. (Indeed, he has already lost the economy as an issue; he’s been openly rooting for it to fail, but the rebound has foiled him.) Besides, he’d prefer an ongoing border crisis than Biden getting credit for alleviating it.
Plus, by sabotaging the border solution bill, servile Mike Johnson helps Trump serve his master in Moscow. The package includes $60 billion for Ukraine, which badly needs American aid as the second anniversary of the war draws near. There’s no better way for Trump to signal his continued gratitude for Putin’s 2016 electoral help than to undercut Ukraine’s existential fight for freedom. If that sickens our western allies, and sows more distrust of America’s resolve, so be it.
For months, the House GOP’s mantra was: “We’ll pony up money for Ukraine, but only if we get tough on the border.” Now comes a massive package that gets tough on the border…and the House GOP pulls a fast one: “Never mind what we said before, we still don’t wanna send money to Ukraine.” And, naturally, this switcheroo echoes the whims of their sun god, who tweeted today that a border bill “should not be tied to foreign aid in any way, shape or form!”
Axios, the news website, reporting on the Trump-Johnson sabotage of the border package, suggested that their behavior could backfire: “It’s a new risk (for Republicans) in November, if voters decide they can’t govern.” But that will (and should) happen only if a sufficient share of voters pay attention in the first place.
In 1948 Harry Truman won an election that everyone assumed he’d lose because he stumped successfully against the “do-nothing Republican Congress.” Joe Biden might want to give that a try.
Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at [email protected]
JimboXYZ says
R’s want chaos ? That’s absurdly comical/funny, the Ukraine War didn’t exist until Biden. War in the Gaza wasn’t a thing until Biden. Reality is Joe’s back where it all started in the Ukraine, where his son, the tax evading Hunter Biden became a Board of Director member for Burisma, the fossil fuel energy corporation he had no experience or expertise to become. What happened to saving the planet with the Biden(s) ? More Delaware Lies from the family of Delaware Liars. As for the border crisis, 3+ years of Biden and it’s he chaotic worst it’s ever been. Let me guess, Biden won’t solve that in 2024 & even in the off chance he gets 4 more years won’t have any meaningful solutions either. Just keeping that much real.
This is the same 80 year old that spins the last 3+ years of a crap show as a better life for every American. Biden inflation is the assault on American citizens life savings for the catastrophe(s) any one would need a savings for to not end up in some form of bankruptcy. That Biden slush fund has turned into unaffordable housing, unaffordable groceries, unaffordable energy. If you’ve been on the Biden diet for 3+ years, you’ve lost weight eating an unbalanced diet. And that has repercussions, anyone’s health will suffer for it, so that unaffordable healthcare will be the healthcare that doesn’t get the job done without additional financed debt for out of pocket costs. Where you guessed it, Biden has raised interest rates to the highest levels they have been since Carter. Bidencare claims to have lowered the Big Pharma magic pills for “pain (& suffering) management” that are nothing more than placebos & short of any real solution for curing anything.
Ever notice that the battle cry is always Trump ? 91 counts of criminal, yet they haven’t jailed him, they’ve gone after his wealth though, they are after his money too. Hunter Biden evades taxes and hey can’t lock him up like anyone else that stole $ 1.5 million from the Federal Government. Isn’t that an individual insurrection of sorts, to intentionally not pay taxes that in part funds the Federal Government for as far as $ 1.5 million or whatever the number is ? What’s so difficult about imprisoning Hunter Biden ? So Biden gets his war chest money for the Ukraine, now the R’s are creating chaos for that ? Any surprise the author is a University of PA professor ? Isn’t that one of the locations where they found boxes of Biden’s classified documents in Biden’s office ? Trump is a criminal, yet Biden is the well meaning, doddering old fool that has a poor memory. DC Swamp rat that the Biden is & has always been, 50 years of him.
Shelly says
That’s false. The government wants chaos and Biden wants money so he can send it to Ukraine. No where in that bill is there anything that PROTECTS OUR BORDERS. Biden isn’t in it for We the People, he is in it for his personal gain and that’s why he sends billions to Ukraine.
Wanda says
Republicans would have signed the bill the problem is there was nothing in that bill that closed the border, Biden still wanted to leave the border open so more illegal immigrants can keep coming over here so many at a time. The money in that bill was for Ukraine nothing in that bill would have helped the border, and this is exactly why the Republicans did not sign it. I totally agree with the Republicans. CLOSE THE BORDER
Laurel says
Amygdala. It sees what it wants to see.
Laurel says
Shelly in Wanda Land: You pick the beans.
Jim says
I love the first three comments!
Chaos is when everything is a mess and not improving. Right now, if you can’t see that the Republican-lead house is a complete mess and this congress is tracking to be the least productive ever, then I suggest you take a break from Fox News and Hannity and get caught up on some facts….
You blame Biden for Ukraine? Really? I’d love to see the logic trail to that conclusion. Do you think Putin wouldn’t have gone in if Trump was president? The same guy who just said if he was president, he’d encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” with any NATO country that wasn’t paying their full share. (Note: I’m not defending them for not paying…). I’d counter that if Trump was president, even as incompetent as the Russians have shown themselves to be, they would have completely taken over Ukraine within 6 months.
As for protecting our borders as you cry…. Apparently you are unaware of the recent bi-partisan agreement in the Senate on a comprehensive border bill tied to Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan aid that crashed and burned before it got out of the gate? A bill agreed to by one of the most conservative senators and his Republican party. But Trump had them kill it. Why? So he can argue the border is a mess! Did the bill give Republicans everything they want? No. Did it give them a lot of what they want? Yes. But the Republicans would rather leave the border a complete mess so Trump can claim it’s Biden’s fault rather than take action to improve the situation. That is called chaos…..
All I see the Republican party doing is tearing things down. They don’t make anything better. We’re living in a world where we are happy to ban books, fire teachers if they stray outside the lines, attack LGBTQ and minorities and claim that’s victory. Yet at the same time, our home and car insurance climbs into the stratosphere, our school board is dysfunctional and destructive, Ukraine is on the verge of running out of ammunition, another government funding deadline is fast approaching and our Republican leaders are responsible for all of that.
So scream and cry all you want. You’ll never stop to see the world the way it really is.
I did leave out one Republican victory…. Impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas by one whole vote! Now we’ll lose more time in a Senate trial knowing the foregone conclusion is that he’ll be acquitted by a Democratic senate (likely with a few Republican votes as well).
Do us all a favor – go to your Republican leaders and ask them for concrete measures they intend to take to make things better. Banning books hasn’t done anything to improve my situation…..
Pogo says
@Decide
Sherry says
LOL! Love it Laurel!