By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...They're still trying although we hesitate to use the word trying "mightily." It's more like kids playing football out in the street, although one of the teams keeps deflating the ball. It's called congressional politics on its face.
The face is getting bruised.
At burning issue is the Mexican Border. Republicans in the House of Representatives want it shut down, as in closed the damned door to migrants already. Democrats want that, too. But they'd rather be more thoughtful than simply wait on Republican Orange God Donald Trump to make the call on just how the mess will be addressed.
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are crafting a legislative bill both sides say may be the answer (for the time being, but an answer). It's about "controlling" the border, they tell us, and that's the sticking point for the Trumpians, who want quick and decisive and painful action, like right now.
There's a convoy of truckers and buses headed for the border.
Republicans are eager to tag along, to ride the wave of discontentment, to saddle up and go stupid.
That's what Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw, shown in photo above, is saying as he rags his colleagues for being political malcontents out to do soiled Trump's political ambitions bidding.
This from thehill.com: [ Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) swiped at his Republican colleagues for opposing a deal being crafted in the Senate that pairs border and migration policy changes with Ukraine aid before the text of the bill is out.
"The height of stupidity is having a strong opinion on something you know nothing about," Crenshaw said Thursday. "So, I don’t have a strong opinion on the bill because I haven’t seen it. Nobody has."
Crenshaw’s message is a major break from top House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Johnson has said if reports about what is in the deal are true, it would be "dead on arrival" in the House.
"I’m extremely disappointed in the very strange maneuvering by many on the right to torpedo a potential border reform bill. That’s what we all ran on doing," Crenshaw continued. "If we have a bill that, on net, significantly decreases illegal immigration, and we sabotage that, that is inconsistent with what we told our voters we would do."
"It would be a pretty unacceptable dereliction of your duty," Crenshaw said. ]
He represents the conservative 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses land in far north Harris County (Houston) and runs northward to grab a bit of Montgomery County. He's actually likely going against many of his district's constituents who went with Trump in the 2020 election.
But, boys, something's gotta give, as Jack Nicholson might say about here.
The border is at present needy of all national publicity and that beast must be served. For shifty, lying Republicans, the Mexican border is Lassie/Trigger/Godzilla/Reptilicus all in one nifty political package.
The GOP fears losing the November General Election, so grabbing onto the Mexican Border and playing as if it's the equal of the War in Ukraine and Gaza.
It's not.
And if Republicans think it is, well, their own Dan Crenshaw wants a word with each of them...
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He'd better be careful. In recent years, whenever a GOP congressman starts saying something that actually makes sense and doesn't quickly walk it back, they find themselves out of congress.
ReplyDeleteMAGA wants Putin to win, the West to lose. The border to stay open. The economy to crash. Women, people of color to lose more freedoms and rights. The planet to warm faster. 10 year olds to carry their rapist's baby to term, and for more women to die on an operating room table. Tens of millions to lose their health insurance. More dead kids in schools. A restoration of pre-Civil Rights era white supremacy. Big tax cuts for their donors, higher deficits and less for everyone else. Books banned across the US. Teenagers to work night shifts in meat packing plants and not go to school. The minimum wage to stay at $7.25. Mass arrests and mass deportations of immigrants long settled in the US. Insurrectionists to get pardoned. To end American democracy for all time.
ReplyDeleteAsked about Trump, though, Crenshaw told a CNN reporter to not “create some kind of drama here.”
ReplyDelete“Stop instigating against border security,” Crenshaw said. “If the bill sucks, the bill sucks. But we don’t know if the bill sucks.”
I disagree with Crenshaw on a lot of issues but he is right here. It is not just current representatives. Trump is trying to make this bill DOA in the house and even if he was still privy to reading the bill, he wouldn’t because he has a 3rd grade reading level and doesn’t actually care about legislating. The GOP has completely lost their way.
ReplyDeleteWhy are we talking about this wannabe dictator? Why is he not in jail yet?
DeleteIf the 25 states that support Texas seceded with Texas and formed a new nation it would split the United States into 2 sections, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. It would be like what happened after India gained its independence from UK and West and East Pakistan were created.
ReplyDeleteNot happening, bro.
DeleteTexas has nearly 2 million illegals in its workforce alone. Construction , agriculture, food processing, transportation, hospitality and so on. Just in Texas. The Texas legislature has voted down E-Verify for businesses here at every turn. Why? Texas hires the second most illegals in the nation behind Nevada. HR2 proposes to deport all illegals. What is the HR2 proposal to replace the millions of illegals and with what wages without driving up labor costs? First why does the Texas legislature keep passing on E-Verify here? Why not make it harder to hire illegals since we have a super majority? Looking forward to your responses to these questions.
ReplyDeleteRepublican here (for now) but I'm going with Biden in 2024 because of Trump's promise to "punish women" who got an abortion.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletenothing is going on at the border except for one big clown show for the masses.
You said it.
DeleteMAGAts cannot be reached by reason or facts.... they're religious fanatics with more in common with the Taliban than with America....Fact.
ReplyDeleteThese governors coming to the Texas/Mexico border are just play acting. They are not resolving the problem. They are just being divisive so they can get their faces on TV. The most conservative bill ever created to address the problem is being finalized in the Senate and these performative politicians looking for photo ops aren't even encouraging their Senator and Congressmembers to vote for it. Because they don't want to fix it. They are so transparent about this. They don't dare fix the main issue that gets their base running to the polls. And their base just doesn't comprehend the analogy of the snake eating the tail. Legislators agitate on immigration - base reacts to agitation - legislators pretend they can't fix the problem - base votes for them to fix the problem - legislators agitate on immigration. Round and round and round, the immigration wheel spins.
ReplyDeleteOr these governors could just insist their congressional representatives sit down with the bipartisan committee that's already meeting to fix this and come up with something for the president to sign, which is all any president can do for immigration in the long term, regardless of their party. Using the national guard to make any political point against a rival is disrespectful of our soldiers and a violation of the process the founding fathers set forth where Congress is supposed to write the bills and the president then signs them into laws. This is just political grandstanding at the expense of our service men and women.
DeleteWTF: All American Families Have Stories of Illegal Immigration!!!
ReplyDeleteEcho that.
DeleteSo true.
DeleteVote Biden! This maniac Trump cannot go into the White House again!
ReplyDeleteMelania is no better than her husband. She's a grifter too!!! Thick foreign accent.
DeleteStrange, everybody goes to jail except Donald Trump.
DeleteIt’s finally time that Trump is held accountable for his actions! Jail him.
DeleteI'd also look at Jared and Ivanka. They also have their hands dirty in the Trump fraud mess, and the media is reporting that both may turn on The Donald. Do it, I say!
DeleteBet me! Trump Tower will soon be renamed the E Jean Carroll Tower.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha. LOL!
DeleteIt is unfortunate that the current Republican party consists of spineless cowards that are afraid of traitorous Trump and his traitorous base.
ReplyDelete
DeleteI don't want to comment. Sooo tired of this guy. Thanks for all you do, & for keeping us informed & entertained. I've had enough of Trump.
Trump looks like he's in the final stages of a total mental melt down. I agree, he won't make it to November.
DeleteThe ability to have endless appeals and delays renders someone with unlimited resources "above the law". We should stop saying "no one is above the law" when it's not true. Trump is proving that statement is not true.
ReplyDeleteHey, all, watch the PBS Frontline documentary "Democracy on Trial" (available to watch free on their website) and it lays out everything perfectly. Trump is doomed. I encourage you to watch it and tell everyone you know to watch it.
ReplyDelete