That was fast. On Monday, Politico declared that "the White House continues to keep the southern border largely closed during the pandemic." Yet by Thursday, Politico warned, "Biden’s vision for the border has gone bust. But what’s Plan B?"
So why the dramatic change? Could the answer be Governor Ron DeSantis who on Wednesday gave a scorching reply to Joe Biden who criticized the Florida governor for his approach to the COVID-19 pandemic?
DeSantis was particularly critical of Biden's failed border policy: "Why don't you do your job, why don't you get this border secure? Until you do that, I don't want to hear a blip about COVID from you."
That could have been what caused the sudden Thursday panic attack at Politico by correspondents Sabrina Rodriquez and Anita Kumar. And adding to the border panic of their story title was the subtitle: "Seasonal migration no longer is the operative explanation for what looks certain to be record numbers of border apprehensions this year."
President Joe Biden in March wrote off a spike in the number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as a result, at least in part, of winter months being the safest time to make the trek. “It happens every single, solitary year,” he said.
Six months into his term, Biden and his team are being proved wrong.
The number of migrants apprehended at the border isn’t going down this summer, even as the heat makes the journey to the U.S. more dangerous. Instead, it has reached a 21-year high — and there’s a record number of unaccompanied children arriving, too.
What also stood out was this not so subtle jab at Biden's mostly MIA "Border Czar": "In March, Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to tackle the root causes of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. She has traveled to Guatemala and Mexico and visited the border town of El Paso, Texas, since then. Her office declined to comment for this story."
Finally, we get to the heart of Politico's panicked u-turn on the border crises: "
Republican Party operatives say they believe border problems will help them retake Congress in the midterm elections next year. And polls consistently show it’s one of Biden's most vulnerable issues.
Amusingly not everyone at Politico seems to have gotten the new border message yet. Gary Fineout mocked DeSantis in Thursday's Politico Florida Playbook as trying to change the subject from his COVID-19 response to the border with "But wait, the border...."
Um, Gary. Perhaps you should touch base with your Politico colleagues because now they do take the border crises seriously due to the threat it poses to the political future of Biden and the Democrats which the same DeSantis you mocked brought front and center on Wednesday.
