Republicans Trot Out Their OTHER “MTG” On Border Bill

Admit it. You see the letters MTG and your mind jumps to political performance artist/asshat Marjorie Taylor Greene. However, Republicans had an MTG long before the one we know and hate was elected to Congress. Moving The Goalposts. As details of the Senate legislation that once would have been a conservative wet-dream and at the same time angered progressives came out over the weekend what we are seeing now is full-on moving of the goal posts.

As a condition for aid to Ukraine (and other national security matters) the GOP made demands. Months ago. It took too long for some on Capitol Hill to get serious and do some old-fashioned working towards a compromise but it got done. Those conservative demands were met. So were ours. Okay, so neither side got everything, or exactly what they wanted but it was a huge win for both side. As I’ve written elsewhere you don’t find them any more conservative than Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. He’s the kind of conservative of whom other say “when I grow up I want to be HIM.” He took the lead and when he’s telling his fellow Republicans this is better than anything they could have ever hoped for and that rejecting it would wind up with them getting far less it means something.

Lankford (and others) got the GOP what they’ve been demanding all these months. And what is the reaction from a growing group of GOPers? As the headline of this Huffington Post article states: “It’s Betrayal!” Republicans got what they wanted, even demanded and now they are walking away. And raising hell as they do so. I’m so sick and freaking tired of these hypocritical a-holes making demands, having our side compromise and give in and THEN having the GOPers move the effing goal posts! What’s being said? Well, as the linked article reports for starters:

Taking to twitter/X Utah Senator Mike Lee urged his Senate colleagues to filibuster, saying “This is worse than bad negotiation. It’s betrayal. That the Senate GOP can still stop it if 41 will stand together. In another post he said “I cannot understand how any Republican would think this was a good idea—or anything other than an unmitigated disaster. WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP — NOW.” 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) of course spoke out on twitter/X, calling the proposal “an utter disaster.”  “This…is…INSANE,” he wrote. 

Ok you say. You’d expect to hear that from these guys. Onlookers who aren’t part of the real workings of the Senate. However, the article also includes this:

But it wasn’t just rank-and-file Republican Party senators who were quick to denounce the border deal, which was negotiated by their fellow conservative, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), and praised by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), a member of McConnell’s leadership team, also announced his opposition on Monday.

“I can’t support a bill that doesn’t secure the border, provides taxpayer funded lawyers to illegal immigrants and gives billions to radical open borders groups,” Daines, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said on X.

Over in the House things aren’t any better. In fact, they’re worse. Not that that should come as any surprise. At least in the Senate there are those in leadership who’ve supported getting a deal done. In the House the GOP leadership has been opposed:

Meanwhile, in the House, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) vowed it “will not” receive a vote, while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called it “even worse than we expected” and claimed it “won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created.” Other Republicans falsely claimed it would give “amnesty” to millions of undocumented immigrants, a dirty word on the right.

Look, this has been an issue with conservatives for a long time. Most Republicans have for decades been terrified of passing immigration reform, even if it includes tough border security. Because they fear being branded by a primary challenger with a scarlet “A” – for Amnesty! Yes, Democrats would take grief for any compromise and a few might even lose a primary but for the most part they could survive the backlash. It would be unpleasant to be sure, as we will see if this somehow gets passed and Biden signs it.

However, there’s a more cynical aspect to GOP intractability on this issue. It’s a winner for them electorally. Has been for decades. It revs up their base, and did so long before Trump came along. So it was always a tough haul BUT it was always something they could dangle out there to get their voters to the polls. Just like abortion. Frankly I think having proverbially become the dog who caught the abortion car and the resulting electoral disaster GOPers are terrified of catching the immigration/border car. Except for the fanatics Republicans can see how the more their Party tries to demonize abortion access the more it costs the GOP after SCOTUS gave them what they wanted.

They can’t motivate voter turnout on it anymore and it’s costing them elections. In a tragically twisted way the saner heads in the GOP both cynically and cruelly don’t want to fix out immigration and border problem because they don’t want to lose THAT issue as a campaign “tool” too. With Trump openly leading the charge more of those down the food chain are themselves no longer bothering to avoid “saying the quiet part out loud.”

So where does that leave us? Per the HuffPost article:

Lankford called it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to close our open border and give future administrations the effective tools they need to stop the border chaos and protect our nation.” He also sought to rebut claims from the right that it would allow the unfettered passage of migrants across the border.

But many in the GOP have come out against it anyway, bowing to pressure from former president and 2024 GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump and his allies. Some Republicans have openly admitted they don’t want to give President Joe Biden a victory and keep the issue alive ahead of the November general election. There are even some on the right calling for Lankford to resign from the Senate.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s hard won gains against Putin/Russia are at risk of being lost and the consequences should that happen are too terrible to contemplate. China you can be sure it edging closer to invading Taiwan and setting of another global crisis. The war in Israel could quickly spiral out of control and become a regional conflict. All of this would result in American troops and in large numbers deploying into harm’s way. It will cost American blood.

But to the GOP the attitude is “So what?”

Look, I HATE aid to Israel with no strings attached in the legislation. From what I see there are aspects to the border portion of the legislation I’ll also hate. But you know what? We deal with things in our lives over and over that we don’t like or even hate. Sometimes you have to accept that to get much of what you want you’re going to have to put up with things you don’t want and maybe even hate. We deal with it and accept it in our personal lives.

We damned well should do the same with our national security. And pressure the hell out of Congress to GET  IT  DONE.

Republicans need to be called out for moving the goalposts. Calls and emails to their offices. Social media posts. Including on journalist’s feeds. Force the media to start using the same phrase, “Republicans are Moving the Goalposts” Democratic legislators and officials should be using. Right now.