Critics slam Joe Biden’s open border policy and vote-buying tactics: Commentary
Conservative: Bidenâs Bad Open Border Policy
Todayâs âsurge of illegal immigration is the direct and predictable result of changes in regulation and administrative practice by the Biden administration,â grumbles the Washington Examinerâs Michael Barone. Notably: Unlike past immigration surges, todayâs isnât âin response to the labor marketâs low supply of low-skill workers due to reduced workforce participation by low-skill black and white Americans.â The prez doesnât need new laws; he can âundo by executive order the policies he put in place by executive order.â Indeed, his advisers agree he can issue âan executive order that would dramatically stanch the record flow of migrants.â Clearly, âRepublicansâ skepticism about whether Biden would use enhanced border control authority is obviously justified by Bidenâs refusal to use the authority he currently has.â
From the right: Joeâs Vote-Buying Bonanza
That âPresident Biden believes that his fiscal priority ought to be shoveling money to people with the privilege of a college education is incredible,â fume National Reviewâs editors. This week, he âannounced that 153,000 more borrowers will have their student loans âcanceledâ â which, in practice, means paid by the people who didnât take them out and spend them â at a cost of $1.2 billion.â More: âBy the time he is finished, Penn Wharton records, the president will have spent $475 billion on the program.â This, after the Supreme Court last year ruled âthat Bidenâs effort to âcancelâ up to $20,000 for every borrower in the United States was illegal.â âNever, in the history of buying votes, have so many been so fleeced for so few.â
Defense beat: Trump Didnât âRebuild the Militaryâ
One of Donald âTrumpâs stock applause lines is that he ârebuilt the militaryâ while in the White House,â observe The Wall Street Journalâs editors. But while he âran in 2016 on building a 350-ship Navy and expanding the Army to 540,000 soldiers,â he didnât deliver for a US military âreeling from years of budget cuts under Barack Obama that had savaged readiness.â The defense hike he did manage âwas a blip. U.S. defense spending under Mr. Trump topped out at 3.4% of the economy in 2020, up from 3.1% in 2017, even though America devoted 4.6% to military spending as recently as 2011.â And now some Trump âbudget advisers want to reduce defense spending in the name of fiscal restraint.â In a word, he âshares blame for the fact that the U.S. military is overstretched by the worldâs demands.â
Media watch: CBS Cracks Down on Free Inquiry
After laying off veteran reporter Catherine Herridge, CBS launched what is widely seen as âan attack on free press principles,â thunders Jonathan Turley at The Hill. The network seized âher files, computers and records, including information on privileged sources.â Why? Herridge followed stories âunwelcomed by the Biden White House and many Democratic powerhouses,â so âthe heavy-handed approach to the files left many wondering if it was the result of the past reported tension over stories.â âFamed CBS anchor Walter Cronkite once said âour job is only to hold up the mirror â to tell and show the public what has happened.âââ Now âCBS itself will have to look into that mirror and answer some questions of what happened to the confidential records of Catherine Herridge.â
Eye on the economy: Liz Warren Hates Jobs
âFollowing opposition from Senator Elizabeth Warren,â notes Beth Lindstrom at The Boston Globe, âthe proposed merger between Amazon and Massachusettsâ homegrown innovator and Roomba-maker iRobot was abandoned. Soon after, iRobot announced that it would be laying off 350 workersâ â 31% of its staff. âWarrenâs advocacy led to mass layoffs right in her backyard.â Her âideological playbook that views success through a lens of suspicionâ is ânot just misguided, itâs dangerous.â It âhas cost a lot of people their jobsâ and âfurther erodes US leadership in innovation and technology.â âWhen a handful of politicians canât be talked off the ideological ledge, itâs crucial for lawmakers to work across party lines to guide the FTC back to its fundamental purpose.â
â Compiled by The Post Editorial Board