Dan Pfeiffer: “To summarize, Johnson demands a border bill in exchange for passing Ukraine aid; the White House and Senate work on a border bill; Johnson opposes the bill without even seeing it, despite repeatedly declaring that the ‘crisis at the border’ is the House GOP’s top priority.”
“Some commentary suggests that Johnson keeps moving the goalpost to prevent his caucus from having to vote on Ukraine aid, which is vehemently opposed by MAGA Republicans but enthusiastically supported by the Republican establishment and more moderate GOPers. With Johnson in perpetual danger of being McCarthy-ed, I am sure avoiding a tough vote is a factor. However, I think Johnson and the Republicans have another more nefarious reason — they want a crisis at the border to help them in the election.”
The unsaid GOP position isn’t just to defend the border, but to completely stop all immigration of non-whites and non-Christians while deporting the ones who are here (legal or not). Anything less than that won’t be enough for them.
Also the AfD position, but they’re a bit more upfront about it.
But, perhaps like Roe vs. Wade, I think they want the (manufactured) constant fear of immigration looming over their voter base. I’d be willing to bet that many higher up R’s know full well that immigrants play a vital role in the economy, and that the right-wing policies would hurt the country. But by all means, demonize and throw them under the bus in the name of activating your base.
Oh they absolutely know immigration is essential to the economy, or at least their profits. Otherwise we would see them going after businesses that hire illegal immigrants instead of pushing a pointless wall.