When Joe Biden was just a run-of-the-mill, moderatecongressman from Delaware, he was considered one of the dumbest members of Congress. Over the years, as Biden radicalized his views, that charge has gradually disappeared or only been whispered on Capitol Hill.
But a tiger can't change his stripes, and Biden hasn't gotten any smarter since the 1980s. That's what should worry all of us as the crisis at the Texas border threatens to erupt into violence.
Nobody wants it. But the rhetoric on both sides is getting out of control. And it's an open question whether Biden has the smarts to keep a lid on the situation.
Lone Star State Republicans are livid at Biden. He's not lifting a finger, they're saying, to protect them from an "invasion" of illegal immigrants crossing the border. They appear to have a point. A record 300,000+ migrants crossed the southern border in December, and aside from a few half-hearted attempts to manage the crisis, Biden has facilitated the record crossings by carefully writing down everyone's name and getting them to pinky-promise to show up in an immigration court ten years from now.
So Texas Governor Greg Abbott, believing he was out of options, had the Texas National Guard take over a small, well-traveled section of the border near the Eagle Pass border crossing.
In truth, it's a futile gesture. The migrants can cross at dozens of other ports of entry along the border, and not just in Texas. But Abbott's move to directly challenge federal authority has touched an open nerve on the right and has energized activists as no other issue has since the Tea Party protests of the 2010s.
Abbott has refused entry to the Border Patrol and other federal officials at Eagle Pass and, in defiance of the recent Supreme Court decision, has continued to string razor wire at critical points along the border.
In response to the energized right, the left has begun agitating for Biden to take over the Texas National Guard to allow the Border Patrol to do their job. It should be noted that at the time that Texas took control at Eagle Pass, the Border Patrol was not apprehending fentanyl dealers, human traffickers, or people on the terrorist watch list who came across the border.
They were processing illegal aliens more quickly in order to speed them on their way into the interior of Texas. So that's what Abbott is preventing them from doing.
Abbott appeared on Tucker Carlson's show this week and assured the host that Texas was ready for any "boneheaded" move that Biden made to try and regain control of the border.
"We are prepared in the event that that unlikely event does occur to make sure that we will be able to continue exactly what we've been doing over the past month, and that is building these barriers," Abbott added.
Meanwhile, the left tried to equate what Abbott was doing with the civil rights battles of the 1950s. Talk about "boneheaded." Former congressman, former candidate for Senator, former candidate for governor, and former candidate for president Beto O'Rourke (yes, he's a loser) weighed in on the crisis.
"Abbott is using the Texas Guard to defy a Supreme Court ruling. When Gov. Faubus did this in 1957, Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas Guard to ensure compliance with the law," O'Rourke posted on X. "Biden must follow this example of bold, decisive leadership to end this crisis before it gets worse."
This isn't "apples and oranges." This is apples and whatever fruit they use on Mars to signify a dumba**
The Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has denied the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) full access in a public letter, after the DHS sent a letter of its own to Texas officials on January 24, the day after the Supreme Court ruling.
The DHS demanded full access to the border and the key area of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass by January 26, CNN reported.
Paxton said in his response: "This office will continue to defend Texas's efforts to protect its southern border against every effort by the Biden Administration to undermine the State's constitutional right of self-defense."
Meanwhile, tempers are fraying. And it may be about to get much worse.
A "Take our Border Back" truck convoy is making its way to the Texas border in order to "shed light" on the problem and "send a message" to leaders.
"Fellow citizens and compatriots ... I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character to come to our aid with all dispatch," Pete Chambers, one of the coalition’s commanders, wrote on the "Take Our Border Back" website.
"If this call is neglected, we are determined to sustain ourselves as long as possible and act like soldiers who never forget what is due to our own honor and that of our country," Chambers wrote.
Does Biden have the wit to finesse this potential powder keg? Or will he sic a federalized Texas Guard on the protesters?
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