Cal Thomas: Lawmakers’ political theater

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, May 15th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says political theater is nothing new, but it’s time for some players to leave the stage.

CAL THOMAS: Political theater extends back to the Greeks. William Shakespeare wrote about politics in “Coriolanus” and other plays. A personal favorite of mine was “Fiorello!”, a 1959 musical about New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

What happened in Newark last week was political theater at its worst. The cast? New Jersey Democrat Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver along with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Together they attempted to conduct an “oversight” visit at a federally contracted building used by ICE to detain undocumented immigrants, including people charged or convicted of crimes. According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the group had not asked to tour the facility and “that as a bus carrying detainees was entering the facility, ‘a group of protestors,’ including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”

Only Mayor Baraka was handcuffed, and arrested. He was later released. Baraka was charged with trespassing, which he denies. I’m sure it is only coincidental that Baraka is one of six major Democrats running for governor of New Jersey. The incident got him free publicity.

The members of Congress claimed they were exercising their “oversight” responsibilities, which apparently included alerting the media and informing a crowd of demonstrators, some carrying signs.

On the social media site “X,” Acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba denied Baraka’s assertion that he was leaving when agents arrested him: The post reads: “The Mayor of Newark … committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, this afternoon. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state … NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW”

Where have we heard that one before?

Assistant secretary of Public Affairs for DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, gave the agency’s version of events after the group of Democrats got through the gate: “…Representatives Robert Menendez, Jr. and Bonnie Watson Coleman and multiple protestors [were] holed up in a guard shack, the first security checkpoint.

The account continues: “Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk. Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility.”

We can expect to see more stunts and “grandstanding” like the one in Newark because that seems to be all that Democrats have in their toolbox at the moment.

Mayor Baraka might make better use of his time working on Newark’s deplorable public schools where according to Chalkbeat Newark: “Nearly 70% of students in grades 3-9 are falling short of meeting literacy benchmarks, around 82% aren’t meeting math standards, and 93% of fifth graders are below grade-level in science.”

It’s sad to see a once great political party descend into irrelevancy. Democrats are stuck in the mire of bad ideas that go back more than six decades—from claiming Republicans want to do away with Social Security, to denouncing the rich, raising taxes, and increased spending on failed government programs. All they seem to have left is their defense of criminals, open borders, and the ultimate election loser: biological men in women’s sports.

In “Fiorello!,” one song seems to sum up the cynicism many feel about modern politicians:

Politics and poker, politics and poker
Playing for a pot that’s mediocre
Politics and poker, running neck and neck
If politics seems more predictable
That’s because usually you can stack the deck!

Many good Broadway plays and films have been created over the years with politics as their central theme. If what happened last week in Newark was a play, it would have closed before opening night in New York due to bad reviews.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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