{"id":31327,"date":"2024-01-26T20:35:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T04:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=31327"},"modified":"2024-01-26T20:35:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T04:35:33","slug":"all-a-political-game-to-them-trump-and-gop-under-fire-for-cynical-border-ploy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/01\/26\/all-a-political-game-to-them-trump-and-gop-under-fire-for-cynical-border-ploy\/","title":{"rendered":"‘All a Political Game to Them’: Trump and GOP Under Fire for Cynical Border Ploy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Sen.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) speaks with reporters in his office on Capitol Hill on September 13, 2023 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Jabin Botsford\/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Speculating that the GOP is blocking border security legislation to help Trump win the election would sound like a crazy conspiracy theory but it’s literally what the Republicans are saying is happening.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JAKE JOHNSON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan 25, 2024 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics have long argued<\/a> that Republicans are interested only in using immigration\u2014and increasingly hysterical<\/a> claims of a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border\u2014as a political cudgel, and not in genuine policy reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That view appeared to receive some confirmation Thursday when Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) addressed reports that former President Donald Trump\u2014the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination\u2014has instructed Republican senators not to strike an immigration deal with Democrats so that he can make the border a central focus of his bid for a second White House term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” said<\/a> Romney, who has opted not to run for reelection this year. “And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame [President Joe] Biden for it is really appalling.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romney was responding to a journalist’s question about comments that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly made during a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans on Wednesday. According to<\/a>Punchbowl News<\/em>, McConnell told his colleagues that the “politics on this have changed,” referring to the GOP’s demand that any military aid for Ukraine be paired with draconian changes<\/a> to U.S. immigration policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We don’t want to do anything to undermine him,” McConnell said of the former president, who won the Republican primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday after his landslide victory in Iowa<\/a> last week, further establishing his stranglehold on the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speculating that the GOP is blocking border security legislation to help Trump win the election would sound like a crazy conspiracy theory but it's literally what the Republicans are saying is happening: https:\/\/t.co\/BgUwVPpWze<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/LEnn9vsgu5<\/a><\/p>— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) January 25, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>