• Xhieron@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Something will happen, and that’s the point of Biden’s remarks on Friday: If they pass the bill, they give him a victory on immigration he can campaign on. If they bend to the cheeto, he has an answer for the rest of the campaign every time they bring up immigration: You all voted against empowering me to close the border. Because the bill is already all over the news, Johnson’s House doesn’t have the option to do nothing. [And frankly I don’t think it matters that much what Abbott does right this second.]

    I half expect to see a repeat of what Biden did at last year’s State of the Union re Social Security and Medicare, boxing the GOP in on an issue that’s extremely important to them by making them choose between supporting him or taking an unpopular position that abandons their core constituents. If they don’t pass this bill, the DNC should be shouting from the rooftops that the Republicans want Russian hegemony in Eastern Europe and open borders in Texas. If they pass it, then it’s the biggest border security bill in a decade.

    Biden is getting well up in years (and he’s not alone in that), and he’s no LBJ, but he’s still a very capable politician. He’s certainly got other campaign problems (ahem, the Israel albatross around his neck), but for the last few days, Joe Biden has basically done everything right on immigration.