Democrats long ago decided that there were not differences on policy between themselves and Republican. There was good, and there was evil, and they were the former, and that was the difference.
But what seems to be new is this decision that not only are Republicans’ views evil, but that they are probably criminal as well.
It is looking increasingly like the investigation into “collusion” with Russia was based on the overeagerness at best, and the cynical guile at worst, of Democrats who could not abide their loss in the 2016 election and decided they would burden President Trump with a wide-ranging probe. If not collusion, then something criminal would be discovered.
So far, no such luck.
Some Democrats, led by Rep. Maxine Waters of California, were demanding Trump’s impeachment before Mueller had even plugged in his iMac. Presumably, the high crime and misdemeanor was getting elected.
Democrats don’t like senior White House policy advisor Stephen Miller’s views on immigration, and so they want to drag him to Capitol Hill to give him an “opportunity” to “explain” his thinking.
What this will be, of course, is an opportunity for Democrats to make Miller, who tends to have a hard edge when he speaks in public, the Mephistopheles of Trump’s immigration policy. It has nothing to do with oversight or any kind of policy discussion.
And I’m sure Democrats are hoping he will inadvertently perjure himself and give them a chance to get him, and his policy views, out of the White House. Just hauling him before a committee makes him look like he’s done something wrong.
According to the Washington Post:
House Democrats are sharpening their focus on White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller, with key lawmakers saying he should be brought before congressional committees to testify about his role in recent policy controversies.
The talk of hauling Miller before lawmakers comes days after The Washington Post reported that he played a key role in a plan first discussed last year to release undocumented immigrants into “sanctuary cities” represented by President Trump’s Democratic critics. While the plan never came to fruition because of objections from agency officials, Trump has since embraced the idea.
With a spate of new vacancies at the Department of Homeland Security, including the departure last week of the secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, Miller has emerged as a key target for Democrats who see him as an influential survivor in an administration that has otherwise churned through personnel.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Sunday cited Miller’s role in developing the targeted-release plan in calling on him to testify. “Steve Miller, who seems to be the boss of everybody on immigration, ought to come before Congress and explain some of these policies,” he said in a CNN interview.
My bet is that Miller would relish the chance to cross swords with lawmakers who know about a tenth as much as he does about immigration policy. But he’s unlikely to go, because White House officials are not confirmed by Congress and are not necessarily responsible to it.
The president has the right to private advice from his advisors, and they are rarely called to testify and can refuse the demand. And that’s exactly what Miller should do.