Thursday, January 25, 2024

Trump gets a lifeline

It was then President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel who essentially said "Never let a good crisis go to waste." Like it or not, today's American politics are less about offering substantive (and realistic) solutions and more exploiting weaknesses in your opponent so as to justify radical policy decisions.


President Joe Biden, his staff and media lapdogs have denied that the situation at the America's southern border can be construed as a crisis. In essence, they tell the citizens to not believe their lying eyes. But given the fact that the number of migrants who have streamed across the border over the past three years usurps the populace in the majority of states in America, the situation has indeed become dire. As such, a prominent southern state governor is taking the lead in attempting to stem the tide. 


Erick Erickson explains


Texas Governor Greg Abbott decided enough was enough, and he would exercise the powers of the State of Texas under the federal constitution to stop the invasion.

Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution states, “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”

As the federal government has failed to secure Texas’s border, Texas has the power itself with its Guard until such time as the President of the United States commandeers the Texas National Guard. If, in this case, the President takes charge of the Guard and uses it against Texas, it would breach the foundational underpinnings of our constitutional system — using a state’s own militia against it as it tries to protect itself.

The national media is prone to obsess over Donald Trump provoking constitutional crises, but, in this case, Joe Biden is provoking one by failing the basic constitutional duty of the Commander-in-Chief to protect the borders of the several states.


Amazingly, it was this same issue which Trump used to catapult himself to being the GOP nominee in 2016 and then ultimately winning the presidency. 


As much of a dumpster fire as Trump's candidacy appears to be this cycle, he's got a chance to draw in some of the moderates and independents he's hemorrhaging if he chooses to focus on substance. If not, he'll have the distinction of losing twice to a walking cadaver when he falls short in November. 


If Trump has even a semblance of political acumen, he'd head to southern Texas posthaste


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