Amid many of the bad-faith arguments that Democrats made about many of former President Donald Trump’s policies, one that stuck out for its hypocrisy
Amid many of the bad-faith arguments that Democrats made about many of former President Donald Trump’s policies, one that stuck out for its hypocrisy was the “walls don’t work” take.
Typical among many was Democratic U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, who on CNN two years ago called for tearing down the barrier along the Mexican border in her district. “We know walls don’t work, that they don’t stop drugs. That they don’t stop migration.”
When the host, apparently back when CNN still tried to pretend it would ask Democrats hard questions, asked why take down the wall if it doesn’t work, Escobar replied, “It’s really ugly; it is, I think, a monument to division. … The bigger, taller and uglier they get, they just become symbols.”
Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, had called out such thinking a few months before.
At a speech, he noted liberal critics of Trump’s border policy are the same people who “live in gated communities, many of them, and are featured at events where you have to have an ID even come in and hear them speak. They like a little security around themselves.”
“And if you try to scale the fence,” Sessions added, “believe me, they’ll be even too happy to have you arrested and separated from your children.”
Sessions was correct, of course. And the hypocrisy was again evident following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Democrats deployed thousands of armed troops – remember when that signified “fascism” under Trump? – but they also erected a 7-foot-tall fence, the top of which was festooned with razor wire.
So, Democrats really do believe walls work – as Republicans understand.
Which is why GOP lawmakers now want Washington to no longer resemble Baghdad’s “Green Zone.”
Forty-two Republicans wrote a letter on Friday asking Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi to, as Ronald Reagan once noted of a more infamous barrier, tear down this wall.
The letter, an effort led by Rep. Ted Budd of North Carolina, expressed concern that the fence would become permanent.
“We are willing to have an honest debate about providing Capitol Hill Police with the resources they need to be better prepared without turning the Capitol into a permanent fortress,” said the letter, which was also signed by Rep. Kat Cammack of Gainesville.
“To that end, we urge you to remove the barbed wire fencing surrounding the Capitol and send the National Guard troops home to their families.”
The signers go on to say the riot was “horrific,” and that “increased security measures” were likely appropriate.
Yet, the lawmakers argued, “It is time for Congress and its representatives to stop hiding. The American people see through the double standard. Members of Congress cannot demand more security and protection for themselves after they decried federal law enforcement activity across American cities last summer.”
Continuing, the letter states, “The U.S. Capitol is a symbol of freedom both here and abroad. … Sadly, because of the fortress-like security in place, this is no longer the case. … Enough is enough.”
“It is appalling that Communist China allows their citizens more freedom to visit historical sites like Tiananmen Square than currently exists for Americans who want to visit the Capitol in Washington, D.C.”
Walls work. Democrats know this. The Capitol fence is all the evidence we need.
And the fact that they oppose installing one on the nation’s porous southern border while treating their own constituents as enemies speak volumes about them.
NOTE: As previously reported, Americans’s sent $500,000,000 to Jordan for Border Security:
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