By Steve Levy
It never ceases to amaze me how misinformed my friends on the left are who only get their news from CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post or MSNBC.
This phenomenon was never clearer to me than when I had a discussion about the Senate’s immigration bill with my very intelligent friend, Joe — who happens to be a somewhat moderate Democrat.
It was mind-blowing to me how such a highly educated fellow could be duped into believing false information peddled the leftist media — his only source of information.
Here’s how our conversation went:
Joe: Steve, can you believe that Trump and the MAGA Republicans killed that immigration compromise bill that would’ve secured the border simply so they wouldn’t give Biden an issue?
Me: Joe, did you see the details of this bill? They’re awful. They actually allow 1.8 million illegal aliens to get a free pass into America each year (that’s 118 million over the next decade) before Biden would be required to do anything on the border.
Joe: That’s not true, Steve. But even if it was, that’s the art of compromise. These people were coming over anyway, so why not have some trigger point to secure our border?
Me: Because you don’t need a trigger point. Biden right now has — just like he had from day one — the ability to keep the border secure.
Joe: If that were true, then why were so many millions of illegal aliens allowed to cross over the last three years?
Me: Because it was all by design. Biden’s plan was to allow millions of illegal aliens to come into this country and eventually give them amnesty, citizenship, and the right to vote, thereby turning purple states blue.
Joe: Nonsense. He didn’t have the authority or the funding to control the flow.
Me: But how can you say Biden didn’t have authority when he inherited the same rules and budget that his predecessor had? Trump had the border under control without any Congressional action. He instituted the Remain in Mexico policy so illegals could not just walk over the border and be left in the country to await their usually bogus asylum hearings a decade down the road. Biden came in and allowed them to stay through his catch and release policy. He reversed Trump’s policy on day one, and has the ability to reverse his own bad decision at any time to bring us back to a safe border. He doesn’t need Congress to do anything.
Joe: OK, but even if that’s true, why oppose this bill if it clarifies that Remain in Mexico policy?
Me: Because it doesn’t. Remarkably, useful idiot RINO Republicans, like James Lankford and Mitch McConnell, were so eager to get money to Ukraine that they appeased their Democratic counterparts by signing off to allow 5,000 illegal aliens a day to cross the border before Biden would be forced to do anything.
So, if Biden already has the authority to close off the border, he doesn’t need this bill to do it. And if he doesn’t, and Congress needed to give him the authority, why would they only allow it to kick in after the 5,000th illegal pushed through the border each day?
Joe: Because it’s better than nothing.
Me: So, what if you had a prosecutor who declared that he was no longer prosecuting murders and you complained? He says, “Let’s compromise.” But he would only entertain prosecuting them again if the first 5,000 murderers get off scot free. Would you be OK with that?
Joe: Of course not, but that’s different.
Me: Why is it any different? Allowing 5,000 illegal aliens a day to cross our border and basically get a path to legalization is an affront to the millions of people who are waiting online to get in this country the correct way, not to mention the economic strain they are placing on local budgets.
Joe: Yeah, but this is all about Trump not wanting to give Biden a win.
Me: Whatever Trump‘s motivations are, they do not negate the fact that this is an awful bill that should be killed on its own merits, or lack thereof.
But I have to hand it to the Democrats. They knew that, by floating this ridiculous so-called “compromise,” they would be able to create a narrative that Biden is serious about closing the border, and would put the onus on the Republicans to either accept this horrible deal that legitimizes illegal immigration or have them painted by the liberal media as being obstructionists who don’t really want to close the border and just want to keep it alive as an issue.
Now, in a normal world, you would think that Dems wouldn’t be able to get away with such chicanery. But in today’s world, the mainstream media is just an arm of the Democratic Party, promoting and giving credence to its false narratives.
I always knew that this was the case and would influence the tuned-out resident. However, I never thought it would impact highly intelligent, tuned-in fellows like my friend Joe.
And that’s the dilemma in today’s America for Republicans. You can’t win an argument with someone if they never hear your side.
Steve Levy is President of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.” He is the author of “Solutions to America’s Problems” and “Bias in the Media.” www.SteveLevy.info, Twitter @SteveLevyNY, steve@commonsensestrategies.com