A few short years ago, the administration, one that had at least some of the same people in it, never grasped the seriousness of the radical Islamic threat known as ISIS. That administration refused to call it what it was, radical Islamic terrorism. Now words don’t always change things, but in that case, they did. Not being able to, or more to the point, refusing to call it what it was, did not make the problem go away.
We all remember the famous characterization of ISIS as the JV, which means a ragtag amateur group of disjointed troublemakers not to be taken seriously. That ragtag group took more territory and wreaked havoc on a good portion of the world. Efficient for the JV team.
It wasn’t until the new administration took office and called it, as it saw it—radical Islamic terrorism. Not only did the new administration not shy away from the words, but they also did not shy away from taking decisive action to end the ISIS problem quickly and with minor loss of life for our forces.
That administration was not afraid of offending some nebulous group or those on the far left by treating ISIS as just a bothersome little ankle-biter that would go away. No, that administration saw ISIS for precisely what they were. ISIS was a well-organized international radical Islamic terrorist organization hell-bent on establishing their Caliphate and vowing death to America and the western world. That administration saw the inroads into Europe, the ratification of members in many depressed areas of the world, and how that ideology was spreading, growing, and metastasizing like cancer. How do you deal with that? You cut it out, and that is what the then sitting administration did. Not with a drone strike here or there like previous administrations did but with decisive brute force.
Now we have a similar situation, and many of the same ineffectual players are in power again. The situation at the southern border is a disaster. It is a crisis, but the sitting administration is falling into the same malaise they did when they refused to confront ISIS. The current administration can’t bring themselves to call the border what it clearly is, a crisis. They use terms like “challenge” or “difficulty” as they open reception camps one after another to deal with the CRISIS they have caused.
Anyone could have seen, and everyone knew that dismantling the policies that resulted in the lowest illegal immigration in decades would be like opening the flood gates. Opening the gate is exactly what happened. Back are the mass convoys of people pressing against the border. Back are the more than eighteen thousand (more than ever before) children that have instantly become wards of the U.S. living in plastic cages. Cages that this administration built the first time they were in office. Back is the catch and release policy that we all know never worked.
So to make things even stranger, this administration is blaming their disaster on the last administration. The problem with that is everyone, and I mean everyone, including the Mexican president, says that the last administration had it right, and this one has it wrong. Even the wall that was under construction. The sitting administration immediately curtailed the one that was helping border security and stopping border incursions everywhere it was erected. What they didn’t mention is that construction was already paid for, so this administration, in their blinding stroke of ignorance, is paying the construction companies that were already contracted NOT to build the border wall. Sit around and get paid. It seems a recurring theme for the new U.S. government.
The administration is doing everything wrong, and it is hard to think these actions, actions supposedly planned and researched by intelligent folks, are just mistakes. And if they are just poor planning, then correct it. Adjust, rethink and fix the massive mess that they have created. What they are doing is the old tried and true tactic. Deny everything (no crisis), admit nothing (we are doing it all right), and make counter-accusations (it’s the previous administration’s fault).
In the end, this adventure in open borders may result in a revolt in the voting booth. I sure hope so. I can’t understand anyone, regardless of political leaning, thinking this is good for the country. But then again, maybe, just maybe, it will all get put right after about three and a half years.
We can only hope.
