President Biden needs to make a national speech about this, letting the American people know exactly what the Republicans are doing. Every Democrat on any news show needs to bring this up, not matter how many in our complicit, lazy media want to both sides this bullshit. Enough. Time to play hardball with these traitors. The above suggestions need to happen on repeat until enough Americans demand this stop. To have a disgusting group like these maga morons and their cult calling all the shots, whilst being in the minority, is unacceptable. Democrats in DC need to start acting like it or our country will be gone.
There is a critical 24-48 hour period right now in which the GOP will determine whether a bill is possible. If that window closes, I expect this will become a big campaign issue.
I truly hope that the Republican Party implodes on itself. I see signs of it happening, but it is not happening fast enough for my taste. For one, none of them has any loyalty because everything they do is out of self interest, and so there is no conviction. I have been saying that sans the press, who is unwilling or incapable of doing their job in this election, or both, we need to be pointing out that we need immigrants to this country. There is a shortage of workers, not to be made up entirely by forcing women to birth babies, and putting children to work. This shortage is helped by a robust immigration policy. We need high and low skilled workers. I can see how this might not be a good time for a civil war with the Red States vs. Blue States. However, I also see Biden as one of the few people who can get legislation passed, so we shall see. Thanks to the horrid Nikki Haley, Trump has something else to occupy himself with too.
The Speaker has already said that he will do what Trumpp wants him to do, which is NOTHING! Every do nothing Republican in the House needs to be fired in November. This should be THE issue for Democrats this election season.
Lots of luck with that in red states. Instead of hoping for the unrealistic, the Dems need to hire Frank Luntz to send out the message that this is a real example of the the wolves pulling the wool over their eyes. Even that may not work in today’s polarized cotizenry.
I want aid for Ukraine and progress on revamping immigration laws to address what is clearly a humanitarian crisis. As for aid to Israel, I am personally ambivalent. I do not support the genocide that Netanyahu is currently raining down on Gaza. However, if aid to Israel is the cost of aid to Ukraine, ok.
People are blaming this on Biden. No matter that Trump is ordering Mike Johnson not to even put a bill on the floor. Please explain to us how the Biden administration, notoriously slow and fairly ineffective in messaging, is going to convince those who have no interest in believing what Biden says about the border to change their minds.
Thankfully, it looks like the Ds got ahead of the story. It is widely reported in the media (except on fox news), so Trump and the Rs will have a hard time getting away with this.
I live in Greater Houston area about twenty to thirty minutes away from Colony Ridge and I can tell you the area I live in has gotten out of control with increased crime, increased violence in our schools, and an almost triple amount of car break ins, theft, and home burglaries because of Abbott and the county commissioners from all counties knowing incompetence towards allowing Colony Ridge to bloat itself to almost one hundred thousand illegal criminal aliens who live on the land cheap and have bloated interest rates the Harris brothers developers use to evict and resell the land several times over for pennies on the dollar.
Good. The GOP will go down swinging, but they'll most-definitely be going down! Take back The House. Keep the Senate and WH. Tell them to FUCK RIGHT OFF!
Agreed, though it could be too late, regardless of what the GOP does with the bill (likely nothing). IMHO, the GOP is winning the messaging battle on this, thanks to having much more reach and being much more aggressive, forcing, yet again, the Dems back on their heels. That the Dems really haven't had much of a coherent message - sorry, facts really don't matter when it comes to immigration - doesn't help. After the GOP unsuccessfully using immigrants and immigration to scare voters in every election cycle since 2016 (though they've been trying to make America afraid of people with a darker skin color for 30 years), because the fact that in many cities the sheer number migrants are indeed a big issue, this could be the year its a winning issue for them.
I have no words for the shenanigans the Republicans are using....and how the heck does one man wield so much power over the Republican party!! Rhetorical question......a bunch of cowards who have no character to stand up for themselves. Pathetic 😢! Thank you Jay for your calming, insightful words.
This is nothing new. Immigration has been the political gift that keeps on giving for decades, and politicians keep trying the same non-solutions because they know it will get them more votes. Border wall? Was already built in 1996, but Trump still ran on it. Or remember the 1994 California prop 187 that was almost as evil as Abbot in Texas.
And while the Rs are far worse on that issue, it's very much a bipartisan problem. The Ds are far from innocent.
All federal dollars going to Texas needs to stop immediately. Just stop the flow of charity (especially, corporate) to them if they don’t want to follow the laws of the US of A give them a taste of what going it alone feels like.
Just so you know, this has also become the rallying cry from Canada’s right wing party under the extremist Republican trained and supported Leader PEE PEE (Pierre Poilivere), screaming about all the”The “illegal aliens” streaming across our southern border!
Apparently when they have nothing else to offer using immigration and border issues is now the go to for any ambitious extremist right winger politician, looking to win office!
I’m thinking that more people should be looking at Argentina these days to see what exactly happens when an insane nutbar extremist right winger is elected into office because “people were tired and angry about past government inaction”. If you think replacing a boring but sufficiently adequate government that moves slowly but does move, with a radical right winger who spews nothing but populistic BS and insane conspiracy theories is somehow going to make life better for you, you either have a brain that doesn’t function particularity well, or you stopped paying attention to the one thing that has MASSIVE implications for your future!
Abbott has become an insurrectionist, so it’s time for Biden to tell him he’ll invoke the Insurrection Act and arrest him and anyone who follows his orders if they obstruct the federal Border Patrol.
I agree it shouldn’t be. Sometimes, however, it’s important to stand up for principles. Federal supremacy on immigration is one of those times, at least I think so.
Abbott and his reindeer games are gonna get people, more people, killed, and his attitude is perfectly illustrative of the disdain for actual life with which these miscreants operate.
The fascist minority is in a real bind. If they fold and compromise, they look weak to their rabid base AND give President Biden a major victory. If they don't fold, they betray Ukraine, overtly aid and abet Putin, destroy US standing in the world and probably crash the economy.
I'm not taking bets that they won't choose to destroy democracy in the US and around the world.
I'm not sure what Biden can do. Abbott evidently aspires to be a modern Jefferson Davis, and the House Republican crazies are.... well, crazy. Trump is demented and is only trying to save his butt from jail, and probably appease Putin. His more rabid followers have itchy trigger fingers and are just looking for an excuse to engage in wholesale violence.
It is very hard not to feel anxious about the situation.
So who is our POTUS again?Joe Biden is!!Tfg has absolutely NO authority to tell anyone to do a damned thing in our federal government,and his"running"for ANY government office does not give him any authority!
I believe our Actual POTUS should be calling these shots,and wouldn't the Federal Government have actual jurisdiction to arrest any Texas officials who impedes whatever they need to do to properly and legally secure the safety of the border?Abbott was running his mouth about Biden could have him arrested for murder if immigrants died,so they have already died, because of that barbed wire trap,isn't that murder too?Why else would such a trap be put in place,if not to kill people?
Shouldn't then Abbott be charged for the murder of the woman and kids who drowned in HIS trap?President Biden needs to put Abbott in his place.And whilst he's at it,tfg as well.Basically demonstrate to them they don't run anything but their mouths,when it comes to the Federal Government.Biden has that authority and should use it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - the razor wire is on the wrong Texas border. It needs to be placed at the northern, eastern and western borders. Let's add the borders of Florida to that, too.
Okay, this is sarcasm but I'm beyond sick of GOP shenanigans. Too many people are getting hurt by their hateful policies; children and other innocents are targets of gun nuts, women are dying in childbirth and pregnancy complications, migrants fleeing for their lives from unstable political situations are dying on the way and are unwelcomed and mistreated when they reach what should be safety. I'm so over it. Surely Biden has more up his sleeves than court cases and speeches. I hope.
Biden and Schumer should ambush Speaker Johnson and Trump by suddenly accepting the House's draconian immigration bill exactly as written. Call for a vote tomorrow! Biden should sign it, thereby eliminating Trump's strongest campaign issue.
Sign but don't deliver. That's the winning political strategy. I'm confident Biden's administrators can find all sorts of subtle but effective ways to avoid enforcing the law as written.
When this strategy results in the Democrats regaining a strong House majority, they can backtrack on the immigration bill's worst provisions.
While the Repubs are busy refusing to do anything about the border and immigration, and then illogically blaming the Dems for inaction, the war in Ukraine grinds on. Ukraine can't wait until we hold an election in November! They need resupply of weapons NOW. Trump, of course, doesn't want Ukraine resupplied, because his goal is support for Putin, and the elimination of NATO. If Russia rolls over Ukraine because the US quits supporting it, Putin will move against other European countries...and if Trump is elected, he will turn his back on all our former allies, and build alliances with the dictators of the world instead.
Let us recall that President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas Natl. Guard in order to prevent Gov. Orville Faubus from using the Guard to block integration of Little Rock schools...Abbott clearly is goading Joe Biden into federalizing the TX NG to gain political points, but he's playing a dangerous game here. People have already lost their lives as a consequence of Abbott's decisions to freeze out the CBP officers from doing their constitutional duties, and tbh Biden should call his bluff.
TX will continue to push the envelope in its delusional pursuit of "state's rights" and SCOTUS nullification, and it now becomes a question of national security...Biden really has no choice but to act and act decisively.
If Biden does nothing he will be seen as weak and lose the 2024 election. If he federalizes the Texas National Guard and sends them in, it could destabilize the entire country; and he will lose the election. So what's the answer?
I think he can do things that make him seem tough, including placing the blame on the border squarely back on the GOP, given how they caved to Trump to keep the issue alive. The needle is tough to thread, but it is threadable.
Is it not so that Biden is following Immigration law that was passed by Congress? If so, he should tell the American people that he is following a law that needs to be fixed by Congress, not the Executive Branch.
My understanding is that border policy is the responsibility of Congress, not the President. Why isn’t this repeated over and over? P01135809 needs to be distracted with one of his criminal trials which he is required to attend!
It's both. Congress sets the laws, but actually executing the laws is the responsibility of the Executive's branch. Border Patrol is part of the executive, and ultimately reports to POTUS (CBP is part of DHS, which is a cabinet-level department).
Throw fucking abbot in the river or lock him up pdq! Do not tell me that the federal government cannot do that. Trumpy dumpty would not hesitate (lol!). Stop fascism right now right there!
Ukraine is by far a more serious concern than any “invasion” at the border. McConnell at least understands that it is a world wide threat. If Ukraine is beaten down, Russia will attack NATO countries next. Putin is trying for world domination.
President Biden needs to make a national speech about this, letting the American people know exactly what the Republicans are doing. Every Democrat on any news show needs to bring this up, not matter how many in our complicit, lazy media want to both sides this bullshit. Enough. Time to play hardball with these traitors. The above suggestions need to happen on repeat until enough Americans demand this stop. To have a disgusting group like these maga morons and their cult calling all the shots, whilst being in the minority, is unacceptable. Democrats in DC need to start acting like it or our country will be gone.
There is a critical 24-48 hour period right now in which the GOP will determine whether a bill is possible. If that window closes, I expect this will become a big campaign issue.
I truly hope that the Republican Party implodes on itself. I see signs of it happening, but it is not happening fast enough for my taste. For one, none of them has any loyalty because everything they do is out of self interest, and so there is no conviction. I have been saying that sans the press, who is unwilling or incapable of doing their job in this election, or both, we need to be pointing out that we need immigrants to this country. There is a shortage of workers, not to be made up entirely by forcing women to birth babies, and putting children to work. This shortage is helped by a robust immigration policy. We need high and low skilled workers. I can see how this might not be a good time for a civil war with the Red States vs. Blue States. However, I also see Biden as one of the few people who can get legislation passed, so we shall see. Thanks to the horrid Nikki Haley, Trump has something else to occupy himself with too.
Yes! Major implosion.
The Speaker has already said that he will do what Trumpp wants him to do, which is NOTHING! Every do nothing Republican in the House needs to be fired in November. This should be THE issue for Democrats this election season.
Lots of luck with that in red states. Instead of hoping for the unrealistic, the Dems need to hire Frank Luntz to send out the message that this is a real example of the the wolves pulling the wool over their eyes. Even that may not work in today’s polarized cotizenry.
I want aid for Ukraine and progress on revamping immigration laws to address what is clearly a humanitarian crisis. As for aid to Israel, I am personally ambivalent. I do not support the genocide that Netanyahu is currently raining down on Gaza. However, if aid to Israel is the cost of aid to Ukraine, ok.
People are blaming this on Biden. No matter that Trump is ordering Mike Johnson not to even put a bill on the floor. Please explain to us how the Biden administration, notoriously slow and fairly ineffective in messaging, is going to convince those who have no interest in believing what Biden says about the border to change their minds.
Thankfully, it looks like the Ds got ahead of the story. It is widely reported in the media (except on fox news), so Trump and the Rs will have a hard time getting away with this.
I live in Greater Houston area about twenty to thirty minutes away from Colony Ridge and I can tell you the area I live in has gotten out of control with increased crime, increased violence in our schools, and an almost triple amount of car break ins, theft, and home burglaries because of Abbott and the county commissioners from all counties knowing incompetence towards allowing Colony Ridge to bloat itself to almost one hundred thousand illegal criminal aliens who live on the land cheap and have bloated interest rates the Harris brothers developers use to evict and resell the land several times over for pennies on the dollar.
Good. The GOP will go down swinging, but they'll most-definitely be going down! Take back The House. Keep the Senate and WH. Tell them to FUCK RIGHT OFF!
Agreed, though it could be too late, regardless of what the GOP does with the bill (likely nothing). IMHO, the GOP is winning the messaging battle on this, thanks to having much more reach and being much more aggressive, forcing, yet again, the Dems back on their heels. That the Dems really haven't had much of a coherent message - sorry, facts really don't matter when it comes to immigration - doesn't help. After the GOP unsuccessfully using immigrants and immigration to scare voters in every election cycle since 2016 (though they've been trying to make America afraid of people with a darker skin color for 30 years), because the fact that in many cities the sheer number migrants are indeed a big issue, this could be the year its a winning issue for them.
I have no words for the shenanigans the Republicans are using....and how the heck does one man wield so much power over the Republican party!! Rhetorical question......a bunch of cowards who have no character to stand up for themselves. Pathetic 😢! Thank you Jay for your calming, insightful words.
Over generalization is a logical fallacy. A solution is on the table and the Repugs openly admit to making their obstruction a political chip.
This is nothing new. Immigration has been the political gift that keeps on giving for decades, and politicians keep trying the same non-solutions because they know it will get them more votes. Border wall? Was already built in 1996, but Trump still ran on it. Or remember the 1994 California prop 187 that was almost as evil as Abbot in Texas.
And while the Rs are far worse on that issue, it's very much a bipartisan problem. The Ds are far from innocent.
Thanks Kevin....had lost sight on those points!
All federal dollars going to Texas needs to stop immediately. Just stop the flow of charity (especially, corporate) to them if they don’t want to follow the laws of the US of A give them a taste of what going it alone feels like.
Sadly, not a light switch.
Right! But it could be a goal. Better then sending in the cavalry.
That would absolutely be Trump's response. He used that on even minor issues, or because he thought that fealty was lacking.
Trump would have sent in the cavalry at the first whiff of resistance though. We watched him do that repeatedly
Of course, money is like oxygen to him.
Power more than money.
Doesn’t money = power in our political life now?
Where y'all hail from troll buddy?
Just so you know, this has also become the rallying cry from Canada’s right wing party under the extremist Republican trained and supported Leader PEE PEE (Pierre Poilivere), screaming about all the”The “illegal aliens” streaming across our southern border!
Apparently when they have nothing else to offer using immigration and border issues is now the go to for any ambitious extremist right winger politician, looking to win office!
I’m thinking that more people should be looking at Argentina these days to see what exactly happens when an insane nutbar extremist right winger is elected into office because “people were tired and angry about past government inaction”. If you think replacing a boring but sufficiently adequate government that moves slowly but does move, with a radical right winger who spews nothing but populistic BS and insane conspiracy theories is somehow going to make life better for you, you either have a brain that doesn’t function particularity well, or you stopped paying attention to the one thing that has MASSIVE implications for your future!
Abbott has become an insurrectionist, so it’s time for Biden to tell him he’ll invoke the Insurrection Act and arrest him and anyone who follows his orders if they obstruct the federal Border Patrol.
That would be satisfying but would play into their desire to make the border the #1 issue of the campaign when it certainly shouldn’t be.
I’m so glad you put restraint on my (more and more frequent) desires to someway or another hit them over the head with 1000 plastic pudding cups.
Don't waste pudding. Empty the cups (have a pudding party!) and then fill them with rocks. THEN hit away.
What needs to be THE issue is the do- nothing Republicans refusing to do their damn job. The Democrats need to Wake up and drive this home.
I agree it shouldn’t be. Sometimes, however, it’s important to stand up for principles. Federal supremacy on immigration is one of those times, at least I think so.
Abbott and his reindeer games are gonna get people, more people, killed, and his attitude is perfectly illustrative of the disdain for actual life with which these miscreants operate.
The fascist minority is in a real bind. If they fold and compromise, they look weak to their rabid base AND give President Biden a major victory. If they don't fold, they betray Ukraine, overtly aid and abet Putin, destroy US standing in the world and probably crash the economy.
I'm not taking bets that they won't choose to destroy democracy in the US and around the world.
I'm not sure what Biden can do. Abbott evidently aspires to be a modern Jefferson Davis, and the House Republican crazies are.... well, crazy. Trump is demented and is only trying to save his butt from jail, and probably appease Putin. His more rabid followers have itchy trigger fingers and are just looking for an excuse to engage in wholesale violence.
It is very hard not to feel anxious about the situation.
Biden's hands are tied here. There's really nothing he can do about Abbott and his dangerous idiocy.
So who is our POTUS again?Joe Biden is!!Tfg has absolutely NO authority to tell anyone to do a damned thing in our federal government,and his"running"for ANY government office does not give him any authority!
I believe our Actual POTUS should be calling these shots,and wouldn't the Federal Government have actual jurisdiction to arrest any Texas officials who impedes whatever they need to do to properly and legally secure the safety of the border?Abbott was running his mouth about Biden could have him arrested for murder if immigrants died,so they have already died, because of that barbed wire trap,isn't that murder too?Why else would such a trap be put in place,if not to kill people?
Shouldn't then Abbott be charged for the murder of the woman and kids who drowned in HIS trap?President Biden needs to put Abbott in his place.And whilst he's at it,tfg as well.Basically demonstrate to them they don't run anything but their mouths,when it comes to the Federal Government.Biden has that authority and should use it.
I agree with you 100% but for the fact that this solution leaves out the thorny issue of politics in a historic, fraught election year.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - the razor wire is on the wrong Texas border. It needs to be placed at the northern, eastern and western borders. Let's add the borders of Florida to that, too.
Okay, this is sarcasm but I'm beyond sick of GOP shenanigans. Too many people are getting hurt by their hateful policies; children and other innocents are targets of gun nuts, women are dying in childbirth and pregnancy complications, migrants fleeing for their lives from unstable political situations are dying on the way and are unwelcomed and mistreated when they reach what should be safety. I'm so over it. Surely Biden has more up his sleeves than court cases and speeches. I hope.
Thanks for the history lesson embedded in this post. Much appreciated.
Biden and Schumer should ambush Speaker Johnson and Trump by suddenly accepting the House's draconian immigration bill exactly as written. Call for a vote tomorrow! Biden should sign it, thereby eliminating Trump's strongest campaign issue.
Sign but don't deliver. That's the winning political strategy. I'm confident Biden's administrators can find all sorts of subtle but effective ways to avoid enforcing the law as written.
When this strategy results in the Democrats regaining a strong House majority, they can backtrack on the immigration bill's worst provisions.
While the Repubs are busy refusing to do anything about the border and immigration, and then illogically blaming the Dems for inaction, the war in Ukraine grinds on. Ukraine can't wait until we hold an election in November! They need resupply of weapons NOW. Trump, of course, doesn't want Ukraine resupplied, because his goal is support for Putin, and the elimination of NATO. If Russia rolls over Ukraine because the US quits supporting it, Putin will move against other European countries...and if Trump is elected, he will turn his back on all our former allies, and build alliances with the dictators of the world instead.
Let us recall that President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas Natl. Guard in order to prevent Gov. Orville Faubus from using the Guard to block integration of Little Rock schools...Abbott clearly is goading Joe Biden into federalizing the TX NG to gain political points, but he's playing a dangerous game here. People have already lost their lives as a consequence of Abbott's decisions to freeze out the CBP officers from doing their constitutional duties, and tbh Biden should call his bluff.
TX will continue to push the envelope in its delusional pursuit of "state's rights" and SCOTUS nullification, and it now becomes a question of national security...Biden really has no choice but to act and act decisively.
If Biden does nothing he will be seen as weak and lose the 2024 election. If he federalizes the Texas National Guard and sends them in, it could destabilize the entire country; and he will lose the election. So what's the answer?
I think he can do things that make him seem tough, including placing the blame on the border squarely back on the GOP, given how they caved to Trump to keep the issue alive. The needle is tough to thread, but it is threadable.
Is it not so that Biden is following Immigration law that was passed by Congress? If so, he should tell the American people that he is following a law that needs to be fixed by Congress, not the Executive Branch.
My understanding is that border policy is the responsibility of Congress, not the President. Why isn’t this repeated over and over? P01135809 needs to be distracted with one of his criminal trials which he is required to attend!
It's both. Congress sets the laws, but actually executing the laws is the responsibility of the Executive's branch. Border Patrol is part of the executive, and ultimately reports to POTUS (CBP is part of DHS, which is a cabinet-level department).
Thanks Jay, this situation is bothering me more than most.
I think the answer is a national education of voters on what’s going on.
Very helpful Post!
Throw fucking abbot in the river or lock him up pdq! Do not tell me that the federal government cannot do that. Trumpy dumpty would not hesitate (lol!). Stop fascism right now right there!
Maybe.
It seems that power goes to the organized, and red states are nothing if not organized.
Ukraine is by far a more serious concern than any “invasion” at the border. McConnell at least understands that it is a world wide threat. If Ukraine is beaten down, Russia will attack NATO countries next. Putin is trying for world domination.