Spin Cycle: The Border is Okay, All is Well

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

Sunday’s media spin focused primarily on the southern border and the situation which, according to President Joe Biden and his media apologists, wasn’t a crisis until it was – and once it was a crisis, it was Congress’ responsibility to deal with it.

Biden — who spent the first few days of his presidency dismantling former President Donald Trump’s border security initiatives and the next three years claiming that the resulting mess either wasn’t his fault or wasn’t happening at all — issued an executive order on Tuesday that he claimed would regain control of the border. That order — and whether or not it would have any impact whatsoever on the millions who have crossed the border illegally on Biden’s watch — were the topic of much discussion on Sunday.

On ABC’s “This Week,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Martha Raddatz that the goal of the order was to discourage people from making the dangerous trek to — and then across — the southern border.

Biden wanted to “change the risk calculus of individuals before they leave their countries of origin and incentivize them to use the lawful pathways.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas tells @MarthaRaddatz that the intent behind the new border policy is to “change the risk calculus of individuals before they leave their countries of origin and incentivize them to use the lawful pathways.” https://t.co/y4C3CL92zq pic.twitter.com/eYdrfUMCB7

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 9, 2024

But Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) wasn’t buying it. He spoke with Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” and he argued that the problem was only going to get worse.

“As long as the Biden administration refuses to provide any type of enforcement, any type of blockage of people crossing illegally, all that this new Biden policy is going to do is to actually attract and invite even more people to cross the border illegally,” he said.

“There’s no slowing down of people crossing the border,” he continued. “In fact, it’s just accelerating. This is gaslighting our fellow Americans. When Biden gets up and says, ‘This is going to stop people from coming across the border,’ when he says, ‘It’s going to secure the border,’ in fact, it is making illegal border crossings worse.”

The majority of Americans appear to agree with Abbott, at least according to a new CBS/YouGov poll. That poll, as “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan pointed out on Sunday morning found that only 20% of Americans believed that President Biden’s border policies would decrease the flow of illegal immigrants coming across the border and into the United States. Another 30% believed that Biden’s policies would have no impact at all, while nearly half, 49%, said that illegal border crossings would continue to increase under Biden.

According to that same poll, 70% believed that former President Donald Trump’s policies would decrease the number of illegal border crossings. Just 5% said that Trump’s policies would lead to an increase in border crossings, and 24% said that they would not change the number at all.

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) spoke with Brennan about the poll and defended Biden.

CBS News polling found only 20% of voters believe President Biden’s border policies would decrease the number of migrant crossings. When asked if his latest executive action on the border is too late, Biden campaign co-chair Sen. @ChrisCoons says, “No, I don’t think it is…the… pic.twitter.com/uJnHU8Ax7G

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) June 9, 2024

When Brennan asked Coons whether Biden had waited too long to take action on the border – after insisting for months that he couldn’t take action alone — he brushed off any concern.

“No, I don’t think it is [too late],” he said. “The American people understand the difference between substance and showmanship.”

Others — including former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki — have admitted that Biden issued the executive order because he found himself politically vulnerable as poll after poll indicates that the American people view illegal immigration and Biden’s failure to keep it under control as a key issue going into November’s election.

“There needs to be something that’s done, but also, politically, this is one of the biggest vulnerabilities,” Psaki said. “And regardless of who’s mad about the details of what’s in here and what isn’t in here, it’s a political vulnerability for the president and his campaign. They know that. They knew they would have to do something like an executive order before the election politically as well. And that’s what we’re seeing play out.”

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