Don't look for a hot take here.
I'm definitely past the point of defending any turf in this cringe-inducing debacle. This is gotcha-level stuff. No immutable principles are involved. That's why you've seen a lot more focus here at LITD on the cultural (Covington kids, New York abortion law) and economic (Dem tax policy intentions) than on any of this.
Where to start? I guess with the range of reaction among the Very Stable Genius's drooling zombie-eyed cult followers. That range spans from Ann Coulter's declaration that the VSG is a wimp (and here I don't want to digress too much, but the tweet in which she did so said he'd surpassed George H.W. Bush as the wimpiest president of all time; I was glad to see it pointed out to her that Bush 41 signed up to be a Navy pilot at age 17 and was shot down over the Pacific, and, as president, very handily defeated Iraq in Desert Storm.) to the take of Bill Mitchell that, now more than ever, we need to stand behind this supremely courageous protector of all that is noble and righteous. Memo to both Ann and Bill: He's neither. He's still the same narcissistic, shallow blowhard with a hot mess for a mind and a reckless tongue that he's always been.
Then there's the fact that Dem Congressional leadership has definite standing to crow. Even the crowd discussed in the paragraph above knows this was a win for the Pelosi-Schumer camp. What in the hell is going to happen in the next three weeks that would get them to agree to wall funding?
Then there's the wall itself. The Right generally has understood that immigration policy in recent decades has been undermining national sovereignty and the primacy of the rule of law - even Marco "Gang of Eight" Rubio. Most understood that barriers in appropriate places along the border were an important part of the array of measures needed to address the matter, although E-Verify, beefing up ICE, and taking on the sanctuary-city movement were at least as important.
But from the get-go, the VSG just had to turn The Wall into a symbol and put the focus entirely on the percentage of illegal aliens who smuggle drugs and rape people. This juncture was inevitable because the VSG made it his hill to die on.
Now, the latest position that the author of The Art of the Deal had taken on this was quite reasonable. Some wall funding - of the kind and the amount that Schumer and other key Dems are on record as supporting in recent times - for letting DACA people stay (with some reasonable conditions attached). Alas, it got the big thumbs down, for the glaringly obvious reason. Democrats hate Trump.
And because he is who he is, the VSG has had no interest in even appearing any less hatable. That's what his slavishly devoted base loves about him. He doesn't give a f---.
The timing of this Roger Stone arrest is interesting, is it not? And that sure was a lot of guns to bring out a guy being busted for process crimes.
The thing is, folks can point out that the charges have nothing to do with any supposed Russian collusion all they want, but the post-American public takes in its information in images and short soundbites. Close confidant of president frog-marched out of his home is the message that sticks.
Bottom line: Dems are emboldened, Pubs are reeling, and meanwhile, state legislatures are, to cheers and applause, legalizing the murder of the most innocent among us, yet another identity-politics hustler whose who public persona is a flat-out lie (I'm speaking of Nathan Phillips) is granted legitimacy while those he harassed have to fight mightily to un-damage their reputations, and millennials lose all understanding of why handing over their money to government is succumbing to tyranny.
We're tussling over a shiny object while Western civilization's flatlining continues apace.
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