President Trump has finally declared his state of national emergency over our porous southern border, and all the usual suspects are appalled. One of the more disingenuous snipes against the president has biased media figures joining in with Democrats in saying he "didn't need to do this," as some sort of claim that there is no crisis when it comes to border security.
Downplaying a Disaster
How can the unprecedented wave of illegal immigration into our country over the past 30-odd years – that has reshaped the very rhythm and pulse of this nation – be called anything but a grave catastrophe by objective observers? Illegal aliens can bring crime, violence and related mayhem into our homeland. Some murder American citizens, carry potentially lethal infectious diseases with them across the border, depress wages, and prove an onerous burden on taxpayers.
The reactions to Trump's long overdue move reveal nothing that we didn't already know about the various corrupt elites in Washington, D.C. who refuse to serve the people they are ostensibly elected to represent.
Democrats have adopted the partisan tag line "fake emergency" to describe the influx of what some reports say are nearly 30 million illegal aliens onto our sovereign soil. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took the politicization of this crisis to new heights by warning that if Trump could declare a national emergency to secure our border, then a Democrat president could do the same to push gun control. Making a false equivalence, she is threatening Republicans by saying if "your" president acts to protect the American people from a clear and present danger than "our" next president will invoke the same powers to strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights. If this is truly the framing Democrats want to bring to this fight, GOP officeholders should be delighted.
But then they wouldn't be sitting Republicans, would they? Instead of relishing the opportunity to lambaste Pelosi and her fellow Dems for trying to override constitutional rights by presidential decree, milquetoast RINOs are running away from a president who wants to invoke his powers to address a festering problem.
Playing Their Flailing Role
Since they have to pretend to care about controlling immigration for the sake of the illusory "R" that goes next to their name, Republican establishment pols can't fall back on that "fake emergency" line. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) admitted that, yes, "[w]e have a crisis at our southern border" before quickly putting on his gravitas face and stating, "but no crisis justifies violating the Constitution."
And, of course, you get fake conservative establishment types at National Review sounding the bugle call for thoughtful retreat in the face of Pelosi's horrendously flawed argument. Republicans like Rubio and elitist "conservative" media publications always have lofty reasons for refusing to wage an eminently winnable battle that might actually accomplish substantive change that the Swamp so abhors.
We've seen this whole dog and pony show over and over again since the summer of 2015, but Trump's greatest power is how he strips the masks from his opponents and shows them for what they are. Democrats are willing to sell out this country lock, stock, and barrel for political gain. RINOs will come up with a pained explanation for why they can never do anything on behalf of the people who voted them into office.
Those upset at perceived Trump weakness during this whole Wall process should pause and consider just what he is up against. An entire media and political world is united in sullen determination to keep this man from doing anything that puts the interests of the American people first.
