In the Republican corner, the crisis – the real crisis – is the toxic culture of which so many have spoken, which is reaching its nadir in a base that would rather believe blatant lies than think rationally about national results. Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who is either a brazen criminal or a moving target for his intra-party rivals, Rep Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and the entire generation of Republicans who have been condemned by former Speaker Boehner (R-OH) are the results of this toxic culture.
On the Democratic side, there may – may – be a crisis brewing in the issue of the southern border. Axios reports:
Southern border coordinator Roberta Jacobson’s last day in the Biden White House will be at the end of April before she retires, she announced on Friday.
Why it matters: The former ambassador to Mexico has been at the forefront of the administration’s efforts to handle the surge of migrants at the border — which shows no sign of stopping.
- Jacobson’s departure comes after there were more illegal border crossings in March than in any single month in 15 years on top of record numbers of unaccompanied minors overwhelming government immigration and shelter systems.
While Erick Erickson’s paid to put the worst possible spin on such things, it’s worth taking a look, which appears to be associated with his radio show rather than his blog, so it came in private email:
The word “crisis” may not have been used, but this is an explicit acknowledgment by the Biden Administration that it has a crisis on its hands and Jacobson has made it worse.
Not content to acknowledge the crisis, the Biden Administration is preparing to make it worse by sending cash payments to the illegal aliens trying to come here in order to keep them from coming.
The United States is considering a conditional cash transfer program to help address economic woes that lead migrants from certain Central American countries to trek north, as well as sending COVID-19 vaccines to those countries, a senior White House official told Reuters on Friday.
The possible cash transfer program would be targeted at people in the Northern Triangle region of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Roberta Jacobson, the White House’s southern border coordinator, told Reuters in an interview, without saying who exactly would receive the cash.
Yes, that would be the same Roberta Jacobson who, after eighty days, is retiring. Perhaps that is why she is retiring and the Biden Administration realized the moment she opened her mouth that she needed to be sent to pasture.
Erickson isn’t going to give all the context:
Andrew Selee, president of nonpartisan think tank the Migration Policy Institute, affirmed that Jacobson’s role “was definitely only supposed to be a 100-day job. [Los Angeles Times]
So that retirement isn’t quite as shocking as Erickson might want you to think. But it remains true that the border problem is a tough problem, particularly so long as we try to slap a bandaid on a gaping wound, which this is becoming. Jacobson, limited as she is in her role, gives more context for her proposal:
Instead of pouring most of the money into national treasuries, she said in that interview, greater amounts would go to nongovernmental organizations and programs for single mothers, youth training and similar groups, “so that in the end, you are strengthening the societies and not enriching these governments.” [Los Angeles Times]
But I think this is inadequate. Obama, Trump, Bush, Clinton – it’s not in the least clear to me that any of them initiated the programs necessary to discover why the civil societies of these countries have foundered so badly that people are leaving home. We need a thoroughly honest investigation that leaves behind American jingoism in favor of understanding what is going on, and then taking action.
And what if the result is really unpalatable? What if, just as an example, we discover our food exports have swamped their markets, and their farmers, unable to compete, are now flooding their labor markets with too much labor? A sociopath would recommend that all food exports be shut off, making the role of the local farmer once again viable.
But could we do that? No.
And there are even worse conclusions, which I shan’t explore as, while plausible, they lead to plans of action that are completely unacceptable in current morality systems.
While the Republicans may have a terminal cultural problem, the Democrats have been handed a hot potato which they are not apparently willing to properly investigate. And it’s hot:
(Above from cbp.gov.) I am uninterested in conservative outrage strategies, which Erickson shamelessly indulges in with this:
In other words, though they clearly realize they have a crisis, the Biden Administration has zero idea how to fix it.
How about, I don’t know, maybe a wall? Or return to the Trump policy of making asylum seekers stay in Central America when they apply? Just a few thoughts. Have a good weekend.
Neither of which were particularly successful. But his audience cannot tolerate being told Trump was a fool and an idiot, so he has to say it, I suppose.
This is a problem that needs to be resolved. How are the Democrats going to do it? If they’re unwilling to really dig into it, I’d recommend the Obama solution: deport everyone in sight.
And that won’t play well with the immigration advocates. We know that because they weren’t happy last time.
