Paul Waldman, on the photo op safari the bad faith House Republicans took to the U.S.-Mexico border recently:
Speaker Mike Johnson took no fewer than 60 of his House GOP colleagues on a trip to the southern border this week, enacting a ritual that is both familiar and pointless. The playbook is rife with cliches: Don outdoor-rated clothing (tactical pockets are a bonus); nod gravely while speaking to Border Patrol agents; gaze determinedly into Mexico; and hold a press conference to repeat words such as “crisis” and “open borders” dozens of times. That’s what you call leadership. [snip]
... [W]hen Republicans stage a farce like Johnson’s border trip, mock them without mercy. Don’t say “We too are concerned about the border.” Say: “If these Republicans cared about fixing the immigration problem, they’d be sitting down at the table to negotiate, not prancing around the desert in the outfits they sent their aides to Bass Pro Shops to pick up on their way to the airport.”
Any responsible lawmaker who sees the border as a “crisis” should be willing to do whatever it takes to confront it, including compromise. The fact that Republicans aren’t shows that they see it not as a crisis, but as a political football. That’s what it will remain, unless Democrats make them pay a price.
The Democrats have proposals that would address border security and legal pathways to citizenship. As is too often the case, no one hears about it because Democrats don't promote their ideas as forcefully as the lizard- brained Republican propaganda apparatus. Republicans are also intent on holding funding for Ukraine and Israel hostage by linking it to their draconian border proposals and refusing to compromise. After all, what's in it for these party- before- country white nationalist fascists? As the article quotes Republican seditionist and cult member Rep. Troy Nehls (Sedition-TX) saying the quiet part loud: “Let me tell you, I’m not willing to do too damn much right now to help a Democrat and to help Joe Biden’s approval rating.”
We should all keep that in mind when we see these cynical shows of "concern" on this and other issues.
(Photo: screenshot of MAGA Mike Johnson at the border with his "concerned" face / AP)
