THE SHOW NOTES: Democrats Get Trumpy On The Border, Biden’s Rafah Mess, & The Under Reported Story Of The Day

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Democrats Get Trumpy On The Border

As a record number of illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border, Democrats have finally realized that their party’s stance on border security is at odds with the majority of Americans.

Why this matters: With an election less than six months away, House Democratic leadership is urging vulnerable members to campaign on fixing the border and paint Republicans as obstructionists for rejecting the Senate’s bipartisan border deal earlier this year. Senate Democrats are attempting to mitigate losses in November by reintroducing the bipartisan border legislation.

Context: Democrats are behind Republicans on border security in every conceivable way. A Wall Street Journal (paywall) poll claims 65% of voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the border while 71% say immigration and border security is heading in the wrong direction. A Monmouth poll says that 8 in 10 Americans view the border situation as serious while a majority of Americans want to build a wall. A Gallup poll says that a growing majority of voters claim border security and immigration are the most important issues facing the United States today.

Biden’s Rafah Mess

Joe Biden’s decision to withhold strategic arms from Israel has had the surprising effect of uniting pro and anti-Israel forces against him. The highly influential Jewish Federation of North America was the latest to denounce Biden claiming the President's decision emboldens Hamas. Some of Biden’s top megadonors sent angry emails to the White House when the news was announced.

Important: The surprising news has been the reaction from the anti-Israel crowd. The New York Times published this piece (paywall) claiming the Muslim Americans whose support Biden needs this November, view the decision to withhold arms from Israel as too little too late. One of the leaders of the anti-Biden protest vote in Michigan told The Times, “The president’s announcement is extremely overdue and horribly insufficient. He needs to come out against this war. Period. That would be significant.”

Here’s the paragraph that stood out to me:

By and large, prominent Muslim and Arab Americans have now concluded that they are irrevocably at odds with the Biden administration over its foreign policy, according to interviews with more than a dozen people involved in the talks. And many of them say they are tired of hearing that they should vote for Mr. Biden simply because former President Donald J. Trump would be worse.

🚨 But That’s Not All

Steve Guest on Twitter published this video of Biden in 2019 telling PBS that cutting off military aid to Israel “is absolutely preposterous. It's just beyond my comprehension anyone would do that."

CNN Hammers Biden

John King on CNN warned the White House about lecturing Americans regarding their financial situation. Watch:

Notable Quotes

Brett Stephens has a piece in The New York Times with two key paragraphs you need to read:

No Israeli government, even one led by someone more moderate than Benjamin Netanyahu, is going to leave Gaza with Hamas still in control of any part of the territory. If the Biden administration has ideas about how to do that without dislodging it from Rafah, we have yet to hear of them.

…

[Biden’s Israel threat] plays into the perception that Biden is weak — unable to stand up to the left flank of his party, and a feckless ally to our embattled friends. The last time the United States bailed on an ally, in Afghanistan, the result was a political debacle from which the president’s approval rating never recovered. Why would the White House want to put voters in mind of that episode?

Ouch.

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