Partisans Cast Blame After Trump, Johnson Oppose Bipartisan Border Deal

Former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) continued their opposition this week to a bipartisan Senate deal to fund Ukraine aid and pass border security reforms.

The Details: While the details of the deal have yet to be released, it would reportedly allow President Joe Biden to automatically close border crossings when they are overwhelmed. Biden said he would use that authority “the day I sign the bill into law.”

‘Trump’s cynical sabotage’: Many op-eds from left-rated voices cast Republican lawmakers who previously “screamed about a crisis on the border” as hypocritical. In The Hill (Center bias), Juan Williams said Republicans “are holding back support for an immigration bill that solves a painful human crisis at the border simply because Trump doesn’t want to give Biden a political victory in an election year.”

‘Weaseling out of the blame’: Labeling the border deal ineffective, several opinions from the right instead placed blame on Biden for not closing the border without Congress. In the New York Post (Lean Right bias), Miranda Devine said Biden “could shut down the border today,” adding that the deal would insufficiently slow border crossings to “FIVE THOUSAND invaders per day.” 

‘We're getting very, very close’: Meanwhile, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who helped craft the bipartisan deal, defended it by calling it “the most significant shift in border law and enforcement than we've had in three decades, easily.” Lankford also said some Republicans turned their backs on the deal “because it’s a presidential election year.”