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Republicans Are Lying About Their Own Border Bill
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Republicans Are Lying About Their Own Border Bill

Plus: Mike Johnson Is Mainstreaming the Spirituality that Gave Us the Capitol Riot

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Jim Swift
Feb 07, 2024
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Republicans Are Lying About Their Own Border Bill
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Recently in The Bulwark:

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  • JVL: Republican Are Lying About the Immigration Bill Because They're Afraid of It 🔐

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LINDA CHAVEZ: Republicans Are Lying About Their Own Border Bill.

\ (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

THE TOUGHEST BORDER SECURITY LEGISLATION in a generation is finally ready for a Senate vote, but Republicans are threatening to kill the bill they just spent months negotiating. Given the rules of the Senate, any bill requires 60 votes to avoid a filibuster—and as of now they aren’t there. Even if the bill were miraculously to pass the Senate, House Speaker Mike Johnson has pronounced it “dead on arrival” in the House.

So why the sudden reversal among Republicans who’ve been claiming that the situation at the border is an existential crisis that threatens our very sovereignty? The problem is that they’ve demagogued this issue (and so many others) for so long that they’ve effectively divorced electoral politics from policy. They have told so many lies—big and small—about immigration and immigrants that, faced in an election year with the chance to enact their policy proposals, all they can do is lie some more.

READ THE REST.

BILL LUEDERS: Love in an Unjust World.

IF YOU PICK UP JOY-ANN REID’S NEW BOOK, which everyone should do, I suggest you turn first to page 301 to read the acknowledgements, which the MSNBC host in her inimitable do-it-my-way style calls “Many thanks.” There she expresses her gratitude to a large number of helpers and sources of inspiration, three of whom stand out.

READ THE REST.


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Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.


MATTHEW D. TAYLOR: Mike Johnson Is Mainstreaming the Spirituality that Gave Us the Capitol Riot.

LAST WEEK, THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE and other congressional leaders gathered in Washington, D.C. with evangelists, pastors, and other Christian leaders, and over the course of several morning hours, they prayed, repented, and asked for God’s blessings on the United States. You might be forgiven for thinking that all this praying and schmoozing must have taken place at the well-known National Prayer Breakfast. It did not, even though it happened the same morning. Instead, a few blocks away from the Capitol at evangelicals’ favorite D.C. outpost, the Museum of the Bible, these leaders had gathered for the second annual National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance.

READ THE REST.

LINDSEY M. CHERVINSKY: Committing to Democracy.

AT A MOMENT WHEN A GROWING NUMBER of Americans are questioning whether democracy still works and is worth fighting for—and when a Republican presidential candidate reignited the debate over the causes of the Civil War and Republican governors are openly flirting with nullification and secession over border policy—the ideas and career of Abraham Lincoln remain as relevant as ever. Civil War historian and Lincoln biographer Allen Guelzo, in his eighteenth book, Our Ancient Faith, offers a short, punchy deliberation on Lincoln’s relationship with democracy.

READ THE REST.


🚨OVERTIME🚨

Womp. Womp. Three Republicans (McClintock, Gallagher, and Buck) were Nays and Blake Moore flipped at the end, presumably for procedural reasons.

Happy Tuesday! It was an embarrassing day for Speaker Mike Johnson, as he saw both the Mayorkas impeachment pitch fail, as well as standalone aid to Israel, which President Biden has threatened to veto. One House Republican (can you guess?) is pining for George Santos (really).

Donald Trump is not immune… Chris Cillizza on what you may have missed.

President Biden gets a slap on the wrist… I’m sure it’ll drive MAGA world batty, but this is what happens when you cooperate (WaPo), not when you do this (CNN).

Why Nevada might not matter… in the GOP presidential race (ABC).

Watch your speed, guv’nor… Addison Del Mastro discusses a California proposal to limit car speeds.

​​Congress Looks Like Just Another Trump Campaign Arm… Argues Molly Jong-Fast in Vanity Fair.

A State Department security officer… Was arrested for his actions on January 6.

Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message

Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.

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