Granted, it's early January. Even so, we have a strong candidate for 2019's most inane piece of political punditry.
On her MSNBC show Sunday morning, Joy Reid declared that a wall would not affect drug trafficking into the United States because:
"People who are drug traffickers can get on a plane and come."
Let's see how that would play out. A big, long wall is erected, making it much harder for drug smugglers to cross. No problema! The next El Chapo-wannabe simply orders his minions to head for the nearest US Consulate and apply for visas to enter the US. They will, of course, be subject to criminal background checks.
From there, it's off to the airport, their bags loaded with drugs. No chance those drugs will be detected before boarding or as they pass through US Customs, and the smugglers arrested and sent to the hoosegow!
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, fool-proof plan. Yup, wall's a complete waste, since AeroDroga is the easy alternative!
Note: Perhaps realizing how absurd her suggestion was, Reid no sooner made it than she changed gears mid-sentence and went to a supportive guest, Maria Teresa Kumar. Consider also that Reid's suggestion of flying drug mules does amount to an implicit admission that the wall would significantly shut down ground-trafficking across the border.
Note segundo: Reid's suggestion that drug traffickers can simply come by air came in the course of a back-and-forth with Katon Dawson. We will give Reid credit for this: the typical "MSNBC Republican" is a Trump-hating liberal with a phony Republican veneer. In contrast, Dawson--a regular on Reid's show--is an actual Republican and former chairman of the South Carolina GOP, who made the case for the wall.
MSNBC
AM JOY
1/06/19 10:17 am ET
JOY REID: Donald Trump did not promise a wall meaning to do it. He just said it because it was a great campaign device. You can't hang -- can you really -- if he told his base: I'm not doing it, they'd be like, okay. Anything he says they're okay with. Why doesn't he just tell them: I was just saying that as a rhetorical device?
KATON DAWSON: You can put the face on the wall pretty easily. I disagree, Joy. You can see the numbers. People understand drug traffickers and the cartels. They understand human trafficking and they understand criminals. And they understand the illegal aspect. They also now are beginning to understand how long that wall is and how big it is. 697-something miles of cover.
JOY REID: But Katon, Katon! People who are drug traffickers can get on a plane and come. You're making it sound that -- I want to come to Maria Teresa Kumar.
