{"id":444738,"date":"2021-04-23T05:05:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T09:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=444738"},"modified":"2021-04-23T05:05:37","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T09:05:37","slug":"biden-trips-on-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-trips-on-the-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Trips on the Border"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">10<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-trips-on-the-border%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=444738&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"28.108108108108\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Column: The one issue where the White House plays defense<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-810.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-251.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1232045995_736x514-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1232045995_736x514-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\"  style=\"display:none\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tGetty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/matt\/\" title=\"Posts by Matthew Continetti\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Matthew Continetti<\/a> \u2022 April 23, 2021 5:00 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"96.140172867343\">\n<p>The pickings are slim for Republicans in Joe Biden\u2019s Washington. For the past few months, the president has maintained a job approval rating <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/biden-approval-rating\/?cid=rrpromo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in the mid- to low-50s<\/a>. He has a net positive rating in the double digits. He gets good marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, for his distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, and for his (<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/columns\/the-question-biden-wont-answer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">misguided<\/a>) decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The American Rescue Plan is extremely popular, and the American Jobs Plan polls well. The rules of the House and budget reconciliation in the Senate mean that Republicans are powerless to stop major economic legislation from becoming law. Meanwhile, the conservative grassroots are more interested in election integrity and identity politics than in policy. GOP officials are frustrated. &#8220;It\u2019s always harder to fight against a nice person because usually people will sort of give him the benefit of the doubt,&#8221; Senator John Cornyn (R., Texas) <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/548787-gop-acknowledges-struggle-to-bring-down-biden\">told<\/a> <em>The Hill<\/em> recently.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s one issue, however, where the public has doubts. It\u2019s the border. The surge in illegal immigration throughout his first 100 days in office has left Biden vulnerable to Republican criticisms and worried about the political implications. The crisis has exposed as false the idea that this administration is staffed with an &#8220;A-Team&#8221; of &#8220;hyper-competent&#8221; technocrats able to manage anything that comes their way. Leaks to the news media reveal an administration playing an internal blame game. The typically unflappable Jen Psaki has been caught up in spats with the White House press corps. The upshot is that Biden\u2019s missteps have given the GOP an opportunity to unite around border security and tight labor markets.<\/p>\n<p>The public doesn\u2019t like the results of Biden\u2019s asylum policies. Just 24 percent of adults in a late March <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-mexico-health-immigration-immigration-policy-1fb007e86452849d8e373908a3d81e94\">AP-NORC poll<\/a> approved of Biden\u2019s handling of the border surge. Last week\u2019s Quinnipiac poll <a href=\"https:\/\/poll.qu.edu\/national\/release-detail?ReleaseID=3695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">showed<\/a> 29 percent approval. A Morning Consult survey conducted at the end of last month <a href=\"https:\/\/morningconsult.com\/2021\/03\/31\/immigration-biden-approval-rating-polling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> that a majority of registered voters blamed Biden, not &#8220;seasonal migration,&#8221; for the spike in illegal entries. Participants in the Engagious\/Schlesinger swing-voter focus group doubted that Biden\u2019s emphasis on diplomacy and humanitarian aid would reduce the pressure on the border. &#8220;Swing voter support for Biden\u2019s border policies is like sand falling through an hourglass,&#8221; Engagious president Rich Thau <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/biden-immigration-migrant-children-focus-group-435c1bff-a752-4399-b404-d16f9a6f6c4e.html\">said<\/a> to <em>Axios<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>And Biden\u2019s response isn\u2019t helping. He put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of efforts to solve the problem, but Harris recognized the political peril involved and quickly made it clear that she would be engaged in diplomacy rather than emergency response. Harris will meet virtually with the president of Guatemala on April 26, two days after her in-person visit to New Hampshire. The southern border has yet to appear on her schedule.<\/p>\n<p>With Harris burnishing her foreign policy credentials, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has been left to coordinate the administration\u2019s efforts. One reason Republicans unanimously opposed Becerra\u2019s confirmation was that he\u2019s a lawmaker and activist in a job best suited for bureaucrats and wonks. They had a point. The press <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/10\/us\/politics\/biden-immigration.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">routinely<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/04\/16\/hhs-becerra-biden-migrant-kids-482582\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">depicts<\/a> Biden as unhappy with Becerra and &#8220;frustrated&#8221; at his inability to house, care for, and resettle unaccompanied minors safely and swiftly. What did Biden expect? The moment demands a figure with the logistical brilliance of Dwight Eisenhower and the moral core of Albert Schweitzer. That description doesn\u2019t exactly fit Becerra, who is best known for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/03\/yes-xavier-becerra-fought-nuns-in-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suing nuns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Nor is the anti-Becerra leak campaign the only piece of evidence that the White House fears an immigration backlash. Last week, in the space of several hours, Biden flip-flopped on refugee admissions. First came the announcement that, contrary to his campaign pledge, Biden would not raise the cap on refugees. Democrats and progressives slammed the move as inhumane and illiberal. Then the White House, always keeping an eye on its left flank, said it would increase the number of refugees after all. Press secretary Jen Psaki blamed the confusion on &#8220;messaging.&#8221; She was right\u2014the White House had two different messages in one afternoon. A week later Psaki was still trying to explain the discrepancy.<\/p>\n<p>It <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/20\/us\/politics\/biden-refugees.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">turns out<\/a> that Biden didn\u2019t want to draw further attention to immigration by admitting more refugees during the border crisis. His political instincts may have been sound\u2014but he wasn\u2019t willing to test those instincts against criticism from his own side. The White House can\u2019t even admit that what\u2019s happening on the border is a crisis. When Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/04\/19\/politics\/biden-border-crisis-unaccompanied-minors\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> reporters, &#8220;The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people, and we couldn\u2019t do two things at once,&#8221; Psaki and other administration officials said he was referring to the &#8220;crisis&#8221; in Central America that is supposedly forcing migrants to seek a better future in the United States. Please.<\/p>\n<p>Biden spoke the truth: There is a crisis on the border. What he can\u2019t accept, however, is that his policies are responsible for it\u2014and are making his political difficulties worse. And so he\u2019s handed Republicans a powerful issue in an otherwise bleak environment. Now they have to use it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Column: The one issue where the White House plays defense  Getty Images  Matthew Continetti \u2022 April 23, 2021 5:00 am The pickings &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2276536,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-810.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Biden Trips on the Border","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-810.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Biden Trips on the Border","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2276536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}