A new CBS report ahead of President Obama’s last State of the Union address details how the Republican response– delivered by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley– will serve as a rebuttal to the policies of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. The new report seems to underscore prior reporting from the Washington Post that “Paul Ryan is rapidly emerging as Republicans’ anti-Trump.”
CBS writes: “The Republican response to the President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening appears to rebut… some of the policies espoused by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to excerpts released by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin.”
According to Ryan’s excerpts, it seems as though Haley will focus particularly on chastising Trump’s call for curbing immigration:
I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country…My story is really not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America…Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.
Haley’s declaration that “no one who is willing to work hard… should ever feel unwelcome in this country” articulates the central principle of the open-borders philosophy. In essence, this policy formula means that any willing employer should be able to hire any willing worker regardless of the country in which they reside. Under this theory, there is no limitation whatsoever to the amount of labor that can be imported into the country and, thus, there is no preference given to American citizens for jobs.
Republican leadership’s decision to rebuke Trump’s policy positions may seem surprising given the recent polling data. According to Rasmussen, 65% of conservative voters say the United States should not let in any refugees from the entire Middle East– the point of view Republican leadership is presumably attacking with its State of the Union rebuttal.
Yet Ryan’s strategy for the Republican Party’s State of the Union response seems consistent with GOP leadership’s longstanding practice of demeaning its own voter base.
Indeed, this is not the first time the Ryan wing of the Republican Party has sought to rebuke Donald Trump’s immigration plan. Donor-class favorites Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan have both essentially suggested that Americans cannot restrict the large numbers of Muslims migrants resettling within America.
In a November interview with Sean Hannity, Ryan said curbing Muslim migration is “not who we are.” Similarly, in a separate interview, Marco Rubio told Hannity, “We’ve never had a religious test, and I would just say to you that to have a religious test would violate the Constitution”.
In contrast to Haley’s call for continuing large-scale visa issuances, conservative heroine Phyllis Schlafly, who recently expressed her full-hearted support for Trump’s presidency, declared that it is time to pause immigration:
If we don’t stop immigration, this torrent of immigrants coming in, we’re not going to be America anymore because most of the people coming in have no experience with limited government. They don’t know what that is. They look to the government to solve all of their problems, and as soon as we have a high majority of people who think that, it’s going to be a different country…”
Indeed, the Senate Immigration Subcommittee issued a chart book today detailing how if visa issuances are not curbed, the U.S. will issue more green cards in the next ten years than the population of Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nikki Haley’s state of South Carolina combined– effectively nullifying the electoral impact of those states’ voters.
Haley, however, is not the first South Carolina politicians to push immigration policies that would nullify the electoral power of its own constituency. For instance, Trey Gowdy, who has pushed for citizenship for illegal aliens, along with Gang of Eight member Lindsey Graham and immigration booster Mick Mulvaney, all represent South Carolina voters as well.
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