MAGA Florida Congressman Byron Donalds on Sunday ranted about Dems tying immigration reform to border security, basically saying that Dems should pass a border security bill and Biden should sign it – and then the GOP will work with them on fixing immigration and protecting the Dreamers.
“Secure the border first! Let’s get it done! Let’s finish building the wall [blah blah blah] and when we have that done, then we can talk about all the immigration policies [as if any Democrat is going to believe these fucking snakes for a second that they would actually do that]. But the left wants to bring out young kids who came here through no fault of their own, quote unquote, and use that as a poker chip to say we don’t need to secure the border. That’s insane,” said Donalds. In summary he is, in pretty much the cuntiest way possible, saying the GOP should not have to engage in the most fundamental practice of legislative democracy: compromise, which has become a profanity on the right (especially in the adjective, as “compromised” is synonymous with “traitor”).
But just play this out and pretend for a second somehow Dems would drop immigration reform in exchange for a “clean” border security bill that Biden would sign and then enough Republicans would actually then separately honor the deal and pass immigration reform separately. The fans would be demanding their heads on pikes for voting with the Dems. A compromise reform/border bill would actually give them much more cover to say “we got a lot in return for a small concession.”
Which is why it’ll never happen, because their base is incapable of understanding such nuance. And let’s be honest, Republicans are much happier with gaps in border security than they ever would be with a 50 ft high concrete rampart from the Gulf Coast to San Diego. They can’t keep campaigning on pretending to fix the border after they actually fix it. Maybe a cycle or two to tout it as an achievement but after that then what? How can they bus migrants to Chicago and New York or fly them to Martha’s Vineyard if there are no more migrants? Replacement theory is less scary when there are no replacements coming. They want this to be a shitshow. They love every minute of it.