Border Bill Blows Up
Plus: Biden's sagging poll numbers, the Amazon Files, and more...
Under the influence of former President Donald Trump, many elected Republicans are denouncing the bipartisan border security bill. The bill, the details of which were released on Monday, includes $20 billion in new funding for Border Patrol agents, officials to process asylum claims, and other resources for the Department of Homeland Security. Negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R–Okla.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.), the bill would also dole out significant foreign aid to Israel ($14 billion) and Ukraine ($60 billion).
There's just one problem: Trump hates it.
"Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done," the former president wrote on Truth Social. Trump's comment refers to a provision of the bill that would allow the federal government to police immigration more strictly—i.e., by rejecting most asylum claimants—once illegal border-crossings exceed a threshold of 5,000 per day.
Denunciation of the bill has been widespread. Rep. Chip Roy (R–Texas) called it a trap "designed by Democrats to boost Biden against Trump." Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) said the bill was a "monstrosity." Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said it showed contempt for the American taxpayers.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell remains staunchly committed to funding Ukraine's defense against Russia, and was supportive of Lankford's efforts. But after reading the room, he decided to come out against the bill after all.
NEWS — McConnell recommended to GOP senators behind closed doors that they BLOCK the border bill on Wednesday, per multiple sources, bc it's clear that most Republicans are preparing to vote no — either because they oppose the bill or want more time. w/ @bresreports @JakeSherman
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) February 6, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close ally of Trump, has declared the bill dead on arrival. With Trump currently leading President Joe Biden in the polls, Team MAGA sees no reason to give the incumbent any kind of political win.
Speaking of 2024 polling, things continue to look very bad for Biden. Trump is beating the incumbent by five points in a general election matchup, according to NBC News polling. In a recent video, journalist Steve Kornacki pointed out that Biden's job approval rating is far lower than all other recent presidents who sought re-election. On the question of the economy, voters back Trump 22 points over Biden.
WATCH: President Biden trails former President Trump by 22 points on handling of the economy in the latest NBC News national poll, says @SteveKornacki.@kwelkernbc: "The economy is so striking because jobs are up, inflation is down. Voters aren't giving [Biden] credit for that." pic.twitter.com/KzyB7S4rzR
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) February 4, 2024
Most voters—including most Democrats—think Biden is too old to be president. Given widespread dissatisfaction with Biden, even in his own party, one might have expected Democrats, at the very least, to engage in a competitive primary and see if a more formidable general election candidate emerges. But no; the attitude of the Democratic Party, and its top media surrogates is that Biden will be the candidate regardless.
This means that the 2024 matchup is very likely to be Trump vs. Biden—a sequel that absolutely no one is asking for.
The Biden White House pressured Amazon to take action against books with contrarian COVID-19 messages. That's according to Rep. Jim Jordan (R–Ohio), who announced the "Amazon Files" on X (formerly Twitter). Jordan obtained emails that show White House officials haranguing the online sales giant over "high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation" on the platform.
A week later, on March 9, 2021, Amazon met with the White House.
Internal Amazon documents reveal Amazon's "top talking points" going into the meeting.
One of the key questions was whether the Biden White House wanted books banned or just buried deep in the search results: pic.twitter.com/wnWj9eCyJf
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Amazon pushed back but agreed to meet with White House officials to obtain clarity on whether Team Biden wanted book titles removed outright. Subsequently, Amazon worked to reduce the visibility of books that were deemed conspiratorial by government health advisors.
Sadly, this is nothing new, and mirrors the behaviors of Twitter and Meta in response to similar pressure from government censors. And it wasn't just the White House—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, and many other government organizations communicated with social media companies for the purposes of discouraging disapproved content.
Scenes from Washington, D.C.: There is increasing mainstream recognition of the fact that crime in the nation's capital is out of control. Semafor is calling it "D.C.'s dark bubble."
Interesting via @semafor pic.twitter.com/I4WBVPoUhH
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 5, 2024
QUICK HITS
- Dartmouth College is bringing back the SAT.
- King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer.
- Toby Keith has died.
- Israel's military success against Hamas is described as "very limited so far" by a former CENTCOM general.
Israel's military success against Hamas "is very limited so far," says former CENTCOM Cmdr. Gen. Frank McKenzie. "They set themselves a goal of removing the political echelon and the military leadership echelon of Hamas when they went in. They have not been successful to date." pic.twitter.com/UdtA4xju36
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 4, 2024
- Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has admitted to being in a relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to be the special prosecutor in Trump's election interference case.
- Biden is declining to do a Super Bowl interview yet again.
- Flaco, New York City's escaped owl, is thriving.
