Political theater needs physical therapy, which requires a 1,000 word document to be divided , for example, into had 10 light items and voted on individually. It's never enough to curse the darkness if you're not willing to light a small candle. If we would commit to pray to our Heavenly Father that elected officials would do their job honorably, then our lives would have much more light than heat stroke. Anyhow, thank you Erick for doing your job conscientiously, though I fear that you don't make enough time to walk around the Block and smell the flowers.
Very astute column, Erick. But you (and we) need to consider that when the founders arrived at their historic agreement on how to organize a government, they had just vanquished the strongest army on earth (with significant help from the French), and they lived a week away from the any realistic foreign threat. I wish I had a magic formula that would solve the problem, but I don't. Erick, now that you have defined the problem so well, what can you propose to solve it??
That’s the rub Erick a 1000 page piece of legislation that nobody will read and a president won’t enforce with loopholes for everybody to hide behind the best legislation would be the kiss method for all of you democrats that would mean keep it simple stupid two pages no loopholes and everybody understands it or just enforce the laws we have Senators
I think people should know that Progressives see the Constitution as a problem. I am on a progressive site mailing list and one of their most recent articles was entitled, "What if the Constitution is the Problem?" If you goggle "what if the constitution is the problem" you will come up with several sites from prestigious (maybe in their own minds) institutions such as Yale and Harvard Law schools and the American Constitution Society. Now I didn't go and read the articles, but the sentiment on the Left is out there. They truly believe a large number of people are being disenfranchised so we need to go and fix the Constitution with things like eliminating the Electoral College, etc. Be aware.
When someone talks about eliminating the electoral college that simply means they want the right and left coasts picking the president. To me, the electoral college was and still is a brilliant idea and is also a feature, not a bug.
This is where single line items would be able to address the issues most agree on. Immigration and border control. Putting everyone’s personal projects into a thousand page bill compounds the issue and frustrates everyone. Used Car Salesman used to be the most non-trusted person on the planet. Now a politician! You know when they are lying? Their lips are moving!
Usually a do nothing congress is best. Except that the border is wide open. And the national debt is 34 trillion (with a "T"). And the world is full of people who want to kill us. And nobody seems to be able to function in DC.
Thanks again for another civics lesson at a time when very few people have ever had a class exploring the founding of our nation and what that any of this actually means.
I'm sure our Founding Fathers never expected the amount of "pork" that now gets included in these bills. I'm sure along with the US border funding there was twice as much going to Ukraine. I'm glad it failed. We need a bill for funding ONLY the US borders...and make it for a protective structure, not to pay more judges to be at the border.
Wow - another article about the failed border bill. You must really see this as a potential vulnerability for repubs in November and are working overtime trying to make sure people don't see this for what it is. To quote senator Lankford on Trump "obviously a chaotic border is helpful to him". The biggest contributing factor to this bill dying is that Trump wanted to kill it to prevent Biden from scoring a win. How bad do you think it had to be for Langford to utter those words at grave risk to his career?
I get it - Its easier to obfuscate the situation by writing about reading the room, presidential authority, or structural gridlock then to say there is a cult of morons that believe things like the 2020 election was stolen by dominion voting machines rigged by Hugo Chavez's ghost. Congressional repubs fear this cult of morons primarying them so go along with whatever dumbassery they demand (basically whatever trump says). This is also happens to be part of the reason why trump is such a potential danger to democracy.
Blair, Biden started this, Biden owns this, and now that they see the huge problem this is for them this November, they offer another law that Biden will then just ignore as he’s ignored all the other laws in place now on immigration. Erick is obfuscating nothing and the ‘moronic’ Trump voters and others who can see know the dems play by the rules they make up each day. They cannot be trusted. Follow the laws now, show you can do that, then we can talk.
Yes – Biden could and should be doing more to improve the border now, but even Erick admits this deal would have improved the situation as well.
The more I think about Erick’s last few posts related to this failed border deal, the more I realize what a pathetic case study this is on Trump’s hold not just on the republican party, but on conservative media. This border fiasco is exactly the type of thing that has Erick Erickson who is not totally in the tank for Trump, having to indirectly carry his water by writing something that looks like a chat gpt generated civics lesson rehash of Schoolhouse Rock’s! “I'm Just A Bill” cartoon instead of speaking plain truth. All of this because people like Erick couldn’t keep their jobs while just admitting that Trump is a selfish moron who killed this bill for political purposes through the power his cult of followers (which includes some of you reading this) holds over congressional repubs and conservative media.
There are very few if any cultist followers who write on this substack. There are, though, realists who read and write here and it appears that Trump will be the nominee. Chip Roy from Texas is no Trump cultist and he is entirely against this bill because he knows they’re not following the law now, they won’t follow a new law. This law is a fig leaf to the dems so they can say they ‘did something’. They could have done something three years ago. Erick is not carrying water for Trump, he’s just laying it down straight.
I am not saying the bill is perfect or that there are not legitimate reasons to oppose it or people like Chip who do (there's plenty of stuff in it that I don't like). I am stating that Erick has essentially said on air that he believes the bill would be a net positive and he is choosing to present a scenario for why it failed that leaves out the whole story because the whole story makes Trump and congressional repubs look bad. Now that Trump is the presumptive nominee Erick has changed how he covers things (go back and look at his postings from 3 or 6 months ago if you don't believe this). Erick may have had a different commentary on this situation if it had happened before the Iowa caucus, but I guess we'll never know.
Gosh, Blair, I honestly think Erick reads the room and sees Trump is the likely nominee, so he talks and writes accordingly. The Trump cultists dropped Erick long ago, because he won’t sing their song. Trump cultists are foolish, but if Trump is our nominee and is able to run, I’ll walk over glass to vote for him, as I would have for Haley or DeSantis, and may still do, if one of these law fare cases is able to label Trump a felon. Trumps’ got issues, but drunk and sleeping he would be a better president than Biden on Biden’s best day.
That's unfortunate. While Trump may deliver better policy than Biden, I refuse to vote for someone who illegally attempted to end democracy. I don't need a court to label trump a felon for me to review the vast evidence and conclude that the guy tried to shred the constitution. I also don't believe (as Eric would argue) that the dems nominating Biden somehow negates the argument that Trump is a threat to democracy. Someone that has already tried to end democracy, speaks openly about suspending the constitution, and can control repubs in congress through his cultist mob is a threat no matter how Erick and other pundits spin it. This makes Trump a worse presidential option than Kamala. I am sure we will never agree on this, but it still disappoints me to see Erick spinning himself into a pretzel on things like this border bill argument to avoid Trump taking the blame he deserves.
Sorry for the typos. I meant to say that a 1,000 word document should be divided for example into 10 line items and voted on individually
Political theater needs physical therapy, which requires a 1,000 word document to be divided , for example, into had 10 light items and voted on individually. It's never enough to curse the darkness if you're not willing to light a small candle. If we would commit to pray to our Heavenly Father that elected officials would do their job honorably, then our lives would have much more light than heat stroke. Anyhow, thank you Erick for doing your job conscientiously, though I fear that you don't make enough time to walk around the Block and smell the flowers.
Very astute column, Erick. But you (and we) need to consider that when the founders arrived at their historic agreement on how to organize a government, they had just vanquished the strongest army on earth (with significant help from the French), and they lived a week away from the any realistic foreign threat. I wish I had a magic formula that would solve the problem, but I don't. Erick, now that you have defined the problem so well, what can you propose to solve it??
Learn something new every day! Who knew our legislature was made up of bi-curious camels??
That’s the rub Erick a 1000 page piece of legislation that nobody will read and a president won’t enforce with loopholes for everybody to hide behind the best legislation would be the kiss method for all of you democrats that would mean keep it simple stupid two pages no loopholes and everybody understands it or just enforce the laws we have Senators
I think people should know that Progressives see the Constitution as a problem. I am on a progressive site mailing list and one of their most recent articles was entitled, "What if the Constitution is the Problem?" If you goggle "what if the constitution is the problem" you will come up with several sites from prestigious (maybe in their own minds) institutions such as Yale and Harvard Law schools and the American Constitution Society. Now I didn't go and read the articles, but the sentiment on the Left is out there. They truly believe a large number of people are being disenfranchised so we need to go and fix the Constitution with things like eliminating the Electoral College, etc. Be aware.
When someone talks about eliminating the electoral college that simply means they want the right and left coasts picking the president. To me, the electoral college was and still is a brilliant idea and is also a feature, not a bug.
This is where single line items would be able to address the issues most agree on. Immigration and border control. Putting everyone’s personal projects into a thousand page bill compounds the issue and frustrates everyone. Used Car Salesman used to be the most non-trusted person on the planet. Now a politician! You know when they are lying? Their lips are moving!
Great Civics Lesson Thank you
Just wonder what founding fathers would have thought about all the current Govt Controls.
We need representatives who serve the people not the special interests.
Your 3rd paragraph shows the 17th amendment should be repealed.
Agree. I’d rather have some “crony” of Kemp than two radical progressives like Ossoff and Warnock.
True, we cannot allow Fulton to decide our Senators.
They will pick a crony for the position
Usually a do nothing congress is best. Except that the border is wide open. And the national debt is 34 trillion (with a "T"). And the world is full of people who want to kill us. And nobody seems to be able to function in DC.
Thanks again for another civics lesson at a time when very few people have ever had a class exploring the founding of our nation and what that any of this actually means.
I'm sure our Founding Fathers never expected the amount of "pork" that now gets included in these bills. I'm sure along with the US border funding there was twice as much going to Ukraine. I'm glad it failed. We need a bill for funding ONLY the US borders...and make it for a protective structure, not to pay more judges to be at the border.
Wow - another article about the failed border bill. You must really see this as a potential vulnerability for repubs in November and are working overtime trying to make sure people don't see this for what it is. To quote senator Lankford on Trump "obviously a chaotic border is helpful to him". The biggest contributing factor to this bill dying is that Trump wanted to kill it to prevent Biden from scoring a win. How bad do you think it had to be for Langford to utter those words at grave risk to his career?
I get it - Its easier to obfuscate the situation by writing about reading the room, presidential authority, or structural gridlock then to say there is a cult of morons that believe things like the 2020 election was stolen by dominion voting machines rigged by Hugo Chavez's ghost. Congressional repubs fear this cult of morons primarying them so go along with whatever dumbassery they demand (basically whatever trump says). This is also happens to be part of the reason why trump is such a potential danger to democracy.
Blair, Biden started this, Biden owns this, and now that they see the huge problem this is for them this November, they offer another law that Biden will then just ignore as he’s ignored all the other laws in place now on immigration. Erick is obfuscating nothing and the ‘moronic’ Trump voters and others who can see know the dems play by the rules they make up each day. They cannot be trusted. Follow the laws now, show you can do that, then we can talk.
Yes – Biden could and should be doing more to improve the border now, but even Erick admits this deal would have improved the situation as well.
The more I think about Erick’s last few posts related to this failed border deal, the more I realize what a pathetic case study this is on Trump’s hold not just on the republican party, but on conservative media. This border fiasco is exactly the type of thing that has Erick Erickson who is not totally in the tank for Trump, having to indirectly carry his water by writing something that looks like a chat gpt generated civics lesson rehash of Schoolhouse Rock’s! “I'm Just A Bill” cartoon instead of speaking plain truth. All of this because people like Erick couldn’t keep their jobs while just admitting that Trump is a selfish moron who killed this bill for political purposes through the power his cult of followers (which includes some of you reading this) holds over congressional repubs and conservative media.
There are very few if any cultist followers who write on this substack. There are, though, realists who read and write here and it appears that Trump will be the nominee. Chip Roy from Texas is no Trump cultist and he is entirely against this bill because he knows they’re not following the law now, they won’t follow a new law. This law is a fig leaf to the dems so they can say they ‘did something’. They could have done something three years ago. Erick is not carrying water for Trump, he’s just laying it down straight.
I am not saying the bill is perfect or that there are not legitimate reasons to oppose it or people like Chip who do (there's plenty of stuff in it that I don't like). I am stating that Erick has essentially said on air that he believes the bill would be a net positive and he is choosing to present a scenario for why it failed that leaves out the whole story because the whole story makes Trump and congressional repubs look bad. Now that Trump is the presumptive nominee Erick has changed how he covers things (go back and look at his postings from 3 or 6 months ago if you don't believe this). Erick may have had a different commentary on this situation if it had happened before the Iowa caucus, but I guess we'll never know.
Gosh, Blair, I honestly think Erick reads the room and sees Trump is the likely nominee, so he talks and writes accordingly. The Trump cultists dropped Erick long ago, because he won’t sing their song. Trump cultists are foolish, but if Trump is our nominee and is able to run, I’ll walk over glass to vote for him, as I would have for Haley or DeSantis, and may still do, if one of these law fare cases is able to label Trump a felon. Trumps’ got issues, but drunk and sleeping he would be a better president than Biden on Biden’s best day.
That's unfortunate. While Trump may deliver better policy than Biden, I refuse to vote for someone who illegally attempted to end democracy. I don't need a court to label trump a felon for me to review the vast evidence and conclude that the guy tried to shred the constitution. I also don't believe (as Eric would argue) that the dems nominating Biden somehow negates the argument that Trump is a threat to democracy. Someone that has already tried to end democracy, speaks openly about suspending the constitution, and can control repubs in congress through his cultist mob is a threat no matter how Erick and other pundits spin it. This makes Trump a worse presidential option than Kamala. I am sure we will never agree on this, but it still disappoints me to see Erick spinning himself into a pretzel on things like this border bill argument to avoid Trump taking the blame he deserves.
Thank you for the reminder that the dysfunction we see daily in Congress does ultimatley protect us.
When I was in 8th grade Civics, we didn't call it "gridlock", we called it "checks and balances."
Me too. :)