All politicians tell lies, but the Biden-Harris administration is taking lies to a new level. They now want us to disbelieve what we can see.
To paraphrase a quote attributed to the 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, there are lies, damn lies ... and then there is Vice President Kamala Harris.
More than 90 days after being tasked to stem the record flow of migrants into the U.S., Harris finally went to the southern border, falsely claiming, "We've made progress." She visited El Paso, Texas, while the real problem is in the Rio Grande Valley. Clearly, neither she nor her handlers wanted pictures of people wading, walking and jumping fences to get into the U.S. with her there.
Instead, Harris found a safe place where she talked with border control officers, who have been overwhelmed by migrants in places where she was not. Predictably, she blamed the Trump administration for causing the problem when, in fact, Trump claimed to be on the way to a solution. Trump and a few House Republicans are scheduled to visit the border on Wednesday, leading some to wonder if Harris was trying to upstage him.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said the real problems along the border are less in El Paso than in areas not protected by the unfinished border wall. Abbott said Harris would "fail in her mission if she refuses to speak to residents of the Del Rio sector whose homes and ranches are being overrun by gangs and smugglers."
Abbott has pledged a $250 million "down payment" to resume construction of the wall. Governors in Florida, Arizona and Nebraska have dispatched law enforcement officers to Texas to support local officers and the border patrol.
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What frustrates and contributes to the anger many Americans feel toward their government is that solutions exist, but many politicians refuse to apply them. Recent TV interviews with migrants have shown they were motivated to come because they believed President Biden is making it easier for them to be admitted.
Harris' recent speech in which she said, "do not come, do not come" had about as much credibility as Bill Clinton's denial of sex with Monica Lewinsky.
There are critics who say this is part of a plan by Democrats to "import" new voters and make the party a permanent majority. That may be part of it, but I suspect another reason is to undermine the values and traditions that built and have sustained this country from the beginning. There are those secular progressives who speak and behave as if they hate America and would be happy to see it brought down to the level of other countries or destroyed outright. What better way to do this than to dilute those values and traditions by importing foreigners?
We see this dilution occurring at many levels, including culture, language, behavior, media, and academia. Anyone who objects is labeled with an unending stream of pejoratives. It is why many remain silent or flee in fear from the battlefield. Recent challenges to school board members at public meetings over what is being taught in some public schools gives hope that increasing numbers of Americans are fed up and are now pushing back.
The ultimate push-backer is Donald Trump. His visit to that part of the border where the largest number of migrants are coming across will help focus on the Biden administration's failure to deal with it and Harris' meaningless visit to El Paso, which is not "the new Ellis Island," as Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) called it.
Better to call it one of several "invasion crossings."
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas' latest book "America's Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of the United States" (HarperCollins/Zondervan).
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