Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said congressional Democrats are suddenly motivated and "desperate" to fix the border crisis of their own making amid sagging poll numbers and with an election coming into view.
In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal published Monday, Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, wrote that Democrats are making a "bad political bet" that Americans will "hire the arsonists to put out the fire."
Thune's column came the same day that President Joe Biden spoke with Republican leaders Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about supporting the bipartisan Senate border bill that Republicans soundly rejected earlier this year. Thune said it is all part of a new stunt for Democrats — "their best impersonations of Republicans."
"The architects of the Biden border crisis — the worst in American history — suddenly want the American people to know they're on the case. After three-plus years of mismanaging border security, resulting in more than nine million entries through the southern border, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is telegraphing that he may force Senate floor votes related to the border," Thune wrote.
"That's his prerogative as leader, but I don't expect anyone to buy this political theater. For starters, Mr. Biden has authority to take action at the border and to do so today," Thune added, noting Biden's executive actions in 2021 that undid every border policy that former President Donald Trump had implemented during his term.
Thune said the motivation of Democrats is transparent — votes — especially in the precarious Senate races in Montana, Ohio, Nevada and Pennsylvania, all states Dems need to win to maintain their majority in the upper chamber.
"They aren't motivated by national security. They're concerned about their own political vulnerability. They've recognized, albeit too late, that the chaos of an open border is a political liability," Thune wrote.
Thune is one of two Republicans to officially announce a bid to replace the retiring McConnell as Senate GOP leader, joining Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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