WaPo’s Marcus: Border ‘Much Worse’ than Before, But Biden Hasn’t Had ‘Political Freedom’ to Act

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus stated that President Joe Biden has to do something on the border since it “has gotten much worse” since Biden was running, but he hasn’t had “the political freedom” to do so.

Marcus said, “I think there’s actually logic on both sides. I think, on the Republican side…many Republicans, and in particular, Senate Republicans, the majority of them, are well — are very incentivized to get the Ukraine funding, including Sen. McConnell (R-KY). And they know that border security has to be a piece of this. The problem is getting it through the House. In order to get it through the House, you have to convince House Republicans that Democrats were dragged to this kicking and screaming. And so, to a certain extent, the administration and advocates of getting this across the line benefit from the yelps you’re hearing from the left right now. They can calm them down later. And House — but House Republicans have very mixed motives, right? They like border security as an issue, perhaps more than they like border security as a solution.”

She continued, “Now, from the President’s point of view…he has a problem on the left, and people will be yelling at the end of this process if this all comes together, people from the left will be yelling. But he has a bigger political problem, which is border security is a very motivating issue for voters that he has to get on his side in order to get re-elected. So, this, [in] some way, gives him a little bit of an excuse to do something that he wouldn’t have the political freedom to do otherwise, and to say, I took steps to help solve this.”

Later, after New York Times columnist David Brooks referenced debates over the border during the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries and how Biden tried to position himself as more moderate than other Democrats, Marcus added, “And the border situation has gotten much worse since that conversation, and so he really does need to do something.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett