Cal Thomas: The wall debate

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, January 29th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Next up, Cal Thomas on the seemingly intractable fight over border security.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: President Trump’s experience as a New York businessman was no help in his fight over the partial government shutdown and funding for his border wall. Perhaps he failed to recognize that no one guards the power, cost, and perks of government better than Democrats.

The only thing Republicans got was a lesson in unity. As long as Democrats stuck together—and they did—the president was bound to lose. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were justified in their triumphant response. Schumer bragged, “This agreement endorses our position.”

Does anyone expect promised “negotiations” between Senate and House Republicans these next three weeks to produce anything that successfully contributes to real border security? Democrats, flushed with at least a short-term victory, are not about to anger their base by compromising.

In a Rose Garden announcement of his decision to reopen the government, the president held out the possibility of declaring a national emergency if Democrats continue to refuse funding for his barrier wall. We know where that will lead, don’t we? The federal courts, where a liberal judge likely would halt such an order. Any appeal process could take months, adding more fuel to the chaos stoking anger among many on the left and the right.

There are solutions to almost any problem, but it appears politicians prefer the immigration issue to run on as a means of raising money, garnering votes, and harnessing power. It’s all about politicians and rarely about the rest of us, their claims about “the American people” notwithstanding.

And while the partisan bickering continues, we still have a crisis at our southern border.

Each time I travel internationally I must go through immigration and customs at the airport. If I attempted to re-enter this or another country illegally, I would be arrested. We protect our borders at legal points of entry. And I think most people agree that we need to protect them between points of entry as well. Figuring out a reasonable way to do that shouldn’t be as hard as it’s become.

For WORLD Radio, I’m Cal Thomas.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Workers replace sections of the border wall with new sections Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, in Tijuana, Mexico. 

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