A Tale of Two Borders & Presidential Immunity - Top 3 Takeaways – February 29th, 2024
- A tale of two borders. The biggest current crisis facing the country today will be on display with the border visits of both the current and former Presidents of the United States. With immigration, and specifically illegal immigration, via Biden’s open border policies, having become the top campaign issue this cycle, we’ll have the complete contrast in policies on display today. While former President Trump’s border trip had already been planned – following the horrific murder of nursing student Laken Riley at the hands of a Venezuelan illegal immigrant allowed in under President Biden’s open border policies and released into the interior under Biden’s mandated catch and release program – the president felt the need to make his own border plans in an effort to flip the political script. President Biden’s approval on handling the immigration issue has never been lower, with an average of only 31% of Americans approving of his handling of the issue compared to 65% of Americans who disapprove (numbers that are 13-points worse than Trump on the issue during his time in office). And as I’ve extensively covered the disapproval is well earned. President Biden personally ordered the crisis that’s happened starting with his day one executive orders ending Trump’s effective border policies and mandating the current open border policies. Beyond posturing, beyond rhetoric, that’s what actually matters most today. Whether Biden finally feels enough shame for the blood he has on his hands to meaningfully reverse course on his devastating border policies. It’s certain that new executive actions will be issued today. What’s unclear is whether it’s posturing or substantive. But while we wait to see what will be with both presidents on display at the border today...let’s revisit the facts regarding the impact of each of their border policies. During the four years of the Trump administration crimes committed by “noncitizens” declined by 71%. During the first three years of the Biden administration crimes committed by noncitizens have risen by 95% to record levels. During the Trump administration with crimes committed via “noncitizens” we saw a 70% decrease in assaults, a 76% decrease in burglaries, a 77% decrease in DUIs, a 69% decrease in drug trafficking, a 72% decrease in illegal entries, a 72% decrease in illegal weapons and the lowest of measured levels of homicide and manslaughter attributed to noncitizens in recorded American history with only 11 total during his four years in office. Under the Biden administration through only three years, we’ve already experienced a 603% increase in assaults, a 604% increase in burglaries, a 685% increase DUIs, a 532% increase in drug trafficking, a 697% increase in illegal entries, a 627% increase in illegal weapons and a 1,888% increase in the homicide and manslaughter rate to the highest levels in recorded American history. There’s nearly an endless stream of stats that I could break down for you that would paint the picture of just how significant the policy differences were between these two and just how stunning the impact of those policies on you, have been. But you probably get it and that’s why...
- Border Patrol Stands with Trump today. It was just a few weeks ago that President Biden was touting the National Border Patrol Council’s support of the so-called bipartisan border bill that died in the House. It’s safe to say he’ll not be touting what they have to say today. Quoting a series of statements from the NBPC: Nothing but propaganda from the Biden Admin 24-7/365. What Biden should really be doing on his border visit is giving Governor Abbott a medal to thank him for his public safety work protecting Texans from the massive border chaos Biden has unleashed. A job Governor Abbott shouldn't even have to be dealing with. How many Joe Biden? When will you have seen enough murder, rape, theft and anarchy to quench your thirst for political power? When will you show one ounce of remorse for your victims (and make no mistake, you're responsible for all of them). You are a national embarrassment. Those are all official statements from the Border Patrol. That kind of gives you an idea of the reality on the ground...doesn’t it? It’s beyond safe to say that as both president's visit the border today one squarely stands with the overwhelming support of the Border Patrol behind him, with the other only having those that have been ordered to stand behind him doing so.
- Immunity. My instincts and my analysis to date have proved spot on regarding President Trump’s immunity challenge. It was on February 14th that I brought you this in that day’s takeaways... As I’ve stated right along, Trump will win on ballot access, however he’ll lose on presidential immunity for the purpose of avoiding prosecution...but the question remains when. And that when determines when the January 6th trial can be rescheduled – and most specifically whether it can be tried and brought to a conclusion before the presidential election. Last week when I discussed the D.C. court’s decision, I noted this: Trump’s legal team, whose goal is to delay all of Trump’s outstanding legal matters until after the presidential election has been forced into a quick choice. A wrinkle in the D.C. Court’s decision was to thwart Trump’s efforts to use the immunity case to further delay. The law allows for the Trump legal team to have up to 30 days to decide what to do next. Ordinarily that could have included waiting 30 days and then asking for the case to be heard before the full D.C. Circuit Court. However, in the panel’s decision they said that if Trump’s team doesn’t appeal the case to the Supreme Court by the end of the day on Monday, they’ll free the D.C. judge overseeing the January 6th case to reschedule. Could it be that the Supreme Court, even if it may eventually side with the appeal’s court decision on presidential immunity...doesn’t care for the lower court’s choice to thwart the legal timeline norms to attempt to get to a result and thus a trial quicker...? The Supreme Court could have immediately denied the Trump team’s legal request allowing the lower court’s ruling to stand. They didn’t. All of these behind-the-scenes twists and turns mean a whole lot more than they may at first seem. The odds are still high that the January 6th trial will happen before the election. But they’re slightly lower than they were before yesterday’s decision by Chief Justice John Roberts. It’s possible that there are Supreme Court Justices who don’t feel it’s appropriate for these trials to take place in the middle of a presidential election year. If that’s the case, and I don’t know that to be true, there are things they could do to slow the process down. The biggest tell in this regard would be if the court were to choose to hear the immunity challenge. Time is of the essence. So here we are. The biggest tell is happening.