There is something about the border crisis that has caused New York Times columnist David Brooks to remember that he is supposed to be the conservative half of PBS NewsHour’s Friday Brooks and Capehart weekly recap segment. After previously batting down the idea that President Biden needs to move left on the issue, he rebutted the idea that Biden is doing his best to solve the problem but is hampered by Donald Trump and obstructionist Republicans.
Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart was naturally a proponent of the idea that Biden wants to solve the problem while Donald Trump wants the border to be a mess because that benefits him politically. It was also an idea that resonated with host Geoff Bennett, “And part of what Jonathan just described was on full display at the border yesterday. President Biden invited President Trump to call on Republicans to support this bipartisan border deal. And then former President Trump accused Joe Biden of having what he called a Joe Biden invasion. That's the way he referred to the migrant crisis. I mean, it's fairly clear how they're trying to play the politics here.”
Brooks observed that “it's obviously Trump's strongest point. I mean, only 28 percent of Americans support Joe Biden's immigration policy. They prefer Trump's policy over Biden's policy by like infinite percent.”
Taking a trip down Memory Lane, Brooks also recalled how “Democrats have been sort of out of touch on this issue. In 2016, you had large numbers of candidates in a Democratic primary raise their hand and say they were for decriminalizing the border. That was — compared to where America is, that's far off.”
The only thing one could slightly criticize Brooks on there is that it was actually more recently than 2016. Still, returning to the present day, Brooks also claimed “the Biden policies just haven't worked. This — our asylum system was created after World War II to help those with extreme persecution. That was a long time ago. Right now, there are like 40 million people in the world who are facing that kind of persecution. We can't take all those people.”
After referring to the current situation as “not necessarily immigration,” but “chaos,” Brooks had a policy suggestion for Biden, “so Biden has to do the thing which I think the British have done, which is to say, we're going to stop the asylum process until we can digest all the people who are already in the system. And that will at least try to impose some order, because, if there's just chaos, it's going to be just bad news for Biden.”
It is good that, at least on this issue, Brooks has decided to bring some sense to the table as it helps counterbalance Capehart’s ramblings, such as later, when the trio were discussing Sen. Mitch McConnell’s decision to stand down as GOP leader and Capehart falsely accused him of having “stole a Supreme Court seat from President — from President Obama.”
Here is a transcript for the March 1 show:
PBS NewsHour
3/1/2024
7:31 PM ET
GEOFF BENNETT: And part of what Jonathan just described was on full display at the border yesterday. President Biden invited President Trump to call on Republicans to support this bipartisan border deal. And then former President Trump accused Joe Biden of having what he called a Joe Biden invasion. That's the way he referred to the migrant crisis.
I mean, it's fairly clear how they're trying to play the politics here.
DAVID BROOKS: Well, it's obviously Trump's strongest point. I mean, only 28 percent of Americans support Joe Biden's immigration policy. They prefer Trump's policy over Biden's policy by like infinite percent.
And so Trump has the country on his side when it comes to this border. And the simple fact is, the Democrats have been sort of out of touch on this issue. In 2016, you had large numbers of candidates in a Democratic primary raise their hand and say they were for decriminalizing the border.
That was — compared to where America is, that's far off. Second, the Biden policies just haven't worked. This — our asylum system was created after World War II to help those with extreme persecution. That was a long time ago. Right now, there are like 40 million people in the world who are facing that kind of persecution. We can't take all those people.
And we can't have a policy that prioritizes the people who are breaking law, rather than people who are applying through the asylum system according to law. So, to me, the issue right now is not necessarily immigration. It's chaos.
And so Biden has to do the thing which I think the British have done, which is to say, we're going to stop the asylum process until we can digest all the people who are already in the system. And that will at least try to impose some order, because, if there's just chaos, it's going to be just bad news for Biden.
…
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yeah, you know what? Let me give Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell his flowers. Let me just give him his flowers, because he is, you know, our version of the master of the Senate: wily, cunning. No one knows the Senate rules like Mitch McConnell.
He's even — he even made up some rules, made up the rule that you can't — a sitting president cannot nominate someone to the Supreme Court with nine months to go before the election. The American people should choose the president who then chooses the justice. So he stole a Supreme Court seat from President — from President Obama.
Fast-forward to the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a month before the election. Three days, three days before the election, he turned tail and said, no, we must — we must have a new justice. And Justice Amy Coney Barrett got onto the Supreme — onto the Supreme Court, sealing a conservative supermajority, 6-3 supermajority.
