I know. It sounds implausible, right? Even his worst detractors don’t really think that President Trump really savors all these crass exposures of his past personal life, secretly proud that he “bagged” a Playboy bunny. Nor would any man who has endured all that Trump has had to willingly write off the second half of his term as president. And hobble his hopes of re-election, too — risking the fate of one-term flash-in-the-pan Jimmy Carter. Can you see a beaten Trump sweating with Habitat for Humanity? It doesn’t bear imagining.
But that’s exactly what will happen if the Democrats take the House of Representatives. As I wrote at The Stream:
"The House Democrats have made it clear that it doesn’t matter what Robert Mueller gives them. It could be a ham sandwich in a greasy brown paper bag. They will use it to impeach the President.
"Because of who he is, what he stands for, and what he’s doing for America. And because they despise the kind of voters who support him. Democrats will hound them out of restaurants, pour drinks over their heads, harass them at their homes, badger them at bookstores, and form violent Antifa gangs to intimidate them at will.
"The House will launch an open-ended, Stalinist show trial. It will respect no rules of evidence — impeachment trials don’t need to. On that day, Trump’s presidency de facto ends."
The opinion polls are worrisome. Democrats are steadily rising in “generic” surveys. This despite Trump’s firm and effective foreign policy. Our booming economy and robust job growth. Pay raises and bonuses for Americans at every level of the economy. For Democrats, none of that matters. Many of them might even agree with Bill Maher, that they’d prefer a recession if it puts them back in power.
Trump remains very strong among Republicans. But the fear is that those Republicans will not turn out to vote. Unlike the Democrats, they don’t have virtually every venue in the media feeding their fears and resentments. They aren’t constantly organizing marches and demonstrations. They don’t feel the crackpot urgency of Democrats who have really convinced themselves that a foreign power controls the White House. Republicans don’t feel “cheated.”
But maybe they should. If one issue set Trump apart from other Republicans, it was his laser focus on protecting America First. On trade, in foreign policy, but above all on immigration. Sane Americans know that our country cannot sustain the ongoing attack upon its borders. We can’t afford to educate and medicate, insure and support the whole of Latin America. But that is precisely what the U.S. might have to do, if provisions in a Republican DHS funding bill (HR 392) that just won on a sleazy voice vote isn’t quashed.
As The Washington Post reports:
"The powerful House Appropriations Committee passed a measure that would essentially reverse Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s guidance earlier this year that immigrants will not generally be allowed to use claims of domestic or gang violence to qualify for asylum. The provision was adopted as part of a larger spending bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security, an already contentious measure because of disputes over funding for President Trump’s border wall."
It’s easy to miss what that means. Asylum claims around the world, under international law, hinge on government persecution. That’s it. But the Obama administration adopted policies that perverted the very word’s meaning, to include all sorts of social problems that arise in poor or chaotic countries. (And not just in them — the U.S. has plenty of domestic and gang violence. Via immigration, we are importing even more.) Under the Obama rules, virtually the entire population of countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico could come here for asylum, citing gang violence. What about the Muslim world, where domestic violence is common, along with female genital mutilation?
If House Republicans like Rep. Kevin Yoder have their way, expect tens of millions more asylum applications. Each one costs tens of thousands of dollars to process, and migrants rarely turn up for their hearings. Once they set foot in the U.S., they’re essentially free to stay.
Strong supporters of the president like Laura Ingraham are outraged: "If US asylum law going forward (as @RepKevinYoder demands) allows in anyone claiming to flee criminal threat, prepare for U.S. to be flooded with millions of new asylum immigs."
Is this what voters wanted when they chose Donald Trump? Will they rouse themselves to vote in a boring midterm Congressional election, to save a GOP majority that delivers such Democrat policies, guaranteed to bust our budgets, fill our cities with more gang members, and turn more states from red to blue?
Most galling of all? The excuse given by Rep. Yoder (R-KS) for this betrayal of GOP voters. He actually spoke the following words: “As a son of a social worker, I have great compassion for those victims of domestic violence anywhere, especially as it concerns those nations that turn a blind eye to crimes of domestic violence.”
What? Because his mom was a social worker, the U.S. must adopt every woman in Latin America and the Muslim world? Is this the kind of rationale for public policy Republicans chose when they voted down Jeb Bush?
If the president doesn’t secretly savor that impeachment trial, he needs to let House leadership know that any bill which overturns Jeff Sessions’ common-sense, patriotic provisions will face a presidential veto. He needs to do whatever he can to nationalize this election, and make it about immigration — an issue which voters consistently rank first among what they’re worried about. They aren’t fools. And they won’t be played.
John Zmirak is co-author, with Al Perrotta, of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.