I'd agree that Trump did a much better job than his predecessors on the border. Some of that was simply luck - Covid allowed him to invoke Title 42, and it also massively reduced the incentives for illegal immigration. Still, to his credit, he gave much-needed pushback on immigration overall against the left.
Yes, but a low bar at best. Compared to what is needed, a mere pittance.
The problem is that the actions he took were short-term only and evaporated the moment he left office. A very partially completed wall with tons of holes is useless. And that short-term impact does us little good because it was inevitable that the Democrats were going to regain control of the presidency at some point.
And this part need way more emphasis... Maybe red blinking text or something. This is the entire crux of the problem... Cheers and victory laps for total bullcrap.
The border protection is almost useless until complete - REALLY complete, and also sufficiently manned, because even if it was there in its entirety (a far cry from the reality), all it takes is a pickup truck and a set of acetylene torches to blow through it in minutes if it is not guarded.
What is really needed is someone who can push through legislation that has a longer-term effect. That might be physical in the case of a wall, or legal in the case of legislation. Because of things like Abbott and DeSantis sending illegals to some major cities, and all the other issues that have cropped up, there is a stronger national sense in favor of controlling the border than there has been in a very long time. In other words, we may have an opportunity to actually get some of those longer-term solutions implemented If we have the right person as president.
That seems right. Whether the left will concede and comply is still a ways off. And that is the real political trick: Either the border must be made so secure that it requires no guards, and so permanent that the Democrats can't tear the work down the next time they are in power, OR Democrats must be convinced that border control - REAL and lasting border control - is in their favor.
And turning the real political trick would be the latter.
Trump cannot be that guy because he deliberately chooses to be polarizing. That means there are Democrats who might otherwise support some of that legislation but won't / can't simply because it is being proposed by Trump. He is completely toxic, and is guaranteed to be unable to push through that kind of legislation.
It doesn't even have to be DeSantis necessarily. It just can't be Trump. The us versus them populism may work well enough to get a plurality behind you in the Republican Party, but it sabotages any chance to put together even a temporary legislative majority.
That is very certainly true. Lacking (utterly dispossessed from) the ability to build coalitions and consensus, especially if not even within your own party is the sure doom of ANY real and lasting political success.
