MOFOS AT THE PASS:...The Foggy Mirage At The Mexican Border...Anxious Republican Gov. Greg Abbott Blows Off Supreme Court Ruling...GOP Wants Immigrants As Election Issue...Abortion, Baby...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Noise is noise. In national politics, the loudest noise goes to the moment's "hot button" issue - the one Americans are presumably most concerned about. Goofy little noise like what a candidate said years ago is meaningless. Same for what a candidate once believed in.

The mess (if it is that) at the Mexican border would seem to be the maker-breaker in this year's presidential election.

It'll make for some noise, but it won't be. Abortion, or the right to seek one, remains the Number 1 headache for Republicans. They simply cannot outrun or outflank it. Women won't let them, women are pissed off, actually.

Texas is now fighting the federal government and the U.S. Supreme Court for its right to go All-Out-Nazi on the northern banks of the Rio Grande. The Lone Star State led by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott insists on laying down razor wire fencing the Feds want removed.

A Supreme Court ruling sided by the federal government, only Abbott is not going with the usual belief that a Supreme Court ruling means anything. He's ignoring the high court.

This week, 25 other governors (of so-called Red States) up and said they will support Texas. Republican Congressman Chip Roy (San Antonio/Austin) is openly telling Texas to blow-off the Supreme Court and take care of the alleged problems on the border.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Border Patrol is reporting its apprehension numbers are down.

Yeah, label this one a "political stunt."

Migrants are still coming. That is in keeping with the history of this immigrant country. "Invasion," however, is a high-anxiety term coyly selected by Republicans to get the attention of their base and the national news media. Invasion is better than a "crowd," or a "bunch" or a "group" of migrants at the border.

Plus, the only photos we see are those taken in Eagle Pass, not in McAllen or in Brownsville, for example. Eagle Pass and that local municipal park encampment created by Abbott seems to be it. Nothing up El Paso way or southern New Mexico. Arizona gets the headlines, but it's less and less. Southern California always has been the largest, most attractive magnet.

But Texas?

No, there are no hordes of raggedy immigrant mobs running up McAllen's Main Street on their way north, not a huge gathering of Border Patrol agents or Texas State Troopers. You're more likely to see the agents and troopers at Starbucks or morning eateries.

But there was this in the news: [ House Speaker Mike Johnson says the Republican-controlled House "will do everything in its power" to support Texas over its ongoing feud with the Biden administration over border security - after the Lone Star State said it has a "right to self-defense."

"I stand with Governor Abbott. The House will do everything in its power to back him up," he said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "The next step: holding [DHS] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas accountable."

Abbott on Tuesday declared the state has a right to "self-defense" from a migrant "invasion" as it faces significant pushback over its border security policies from the Biden administration. ]

There is some truth in the reporting, only that "some" is such a small amount as to be that infamous nothingburger.

Worried Republicans want and need the border as a primary issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election. But they know, they know that Republican White House aspirant Donald Trump also did nothing about stemming the phantom migrant "invasion" during his four years in office.

Let's get real.

There is no "invasion." Picture D-Day on the French beaches of World War II and then you'll get the proper definition of an invasion. Republicans love the lingo of brawling politics. This word is only the latest to be abused.

And, as we said up top, it is "abortion" that will sink their chances come Election Night...

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