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I’m pretty sure no one has ever accused me of being soft on MAGA Republicans, but today’s cartoon might be too kind to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
Former President Donald Trump has expressed his vehement opposition to the border-control bill that has been worked out between a bipartisan group of senators and President Joe Biden. Such collaborative progress on the thorny immigration issue would undercut the central theme of Trump’s campaign to return to the White House. For selfish reasons, the twice-impeached ex-president needs chaos at the border with Mexico to continue.
So, Trump has directed pleas and threats at House Republicans, successfully hardening opposition to the Senate bill. The question is, without those threats, might Johnson have let the legislation come up for a vote in the House? Is Johnson cowering before Trump — as in the cartoon — or is he asserting his own interest in keeping the immigration debate hot and divisive so that he and his House GOP colleagues can exploit the issue in their own reelection campaigns?
Probably both. Either way, there is a high level of hypocrisy at work. Johnson and his cohort have hammered away at the immigration issue for years, demanding tougher border policies. Now that they have the opportunity to actually institute more stringent measures, though, they are refusing to take a vote that would rob them of the ability to keep flogging the issue for their own political benefit.
In a FOX TV interview, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, one of the key Republican authors of the legislation, excoriated Johnson and Republicans in the House for their opposition.
“Are we, as Republicans, going to have press conferences and complain the border is bad, and then intentionally leave it open?” Lankford said. “Are we going to just complain about things or actually address and change as many things as we can?”
Mike Johnson has given Lankford the answer to his questions. The speaker wants to keep Trump happy and the Republican base riled up and angry, and he apparently believes the way to do that is to do nothing about the troubles along the border and hope Biden gets the blame.
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.
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