When he should have been in Washington, D.C., doing whatever he could to help prevent the crazies among his fellow Republicans from precipitating a government shutdown, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) was down at the southern border with Elon Musk.
The congressman could have just as easily chatted with the billionaire remotely from the Capitol via Zoom or on the phone or even on what was formerly known as Twitter.
But as Musk indicated by sporting aviator sunglasses and a black cowboy hat at the start of his live stream from Texas, practicalities took a back seat to theatrics.
“Here I am at Eagle Pass,” Musk announced.
Gonzales stood in the background as Musk spoke into a Musk-owned? camera on Musk-owned X. The world’s richest man noted that he is an immigrant and that he believes the U.S. should have “a greatly expanded legal immigration system” with “expedited legal approval” for anyone “who is hardworking and honest and will be a contributor to the United States.” But, he said, there is now “a flow of people that is of such magnitude that it is actually leading to a collapse of social services.”
Musk doffed his cowboy hat to proceed with his version of a Mainstream Media news show.
“We’re going to be meeting with the sort of major officials and law enforcement who are responsible for the border,” he said. “And you’ll hear it directly from them and see exactly what’s going on for yourself.”
The congressman appeared on screen.
“So I’m Tony Gonzales,” he said. “I’m the local congressman here in the district.”
Gonzales’ presence added nothing but dramatic effect to the billionaire’s show. Never mind that the House has still not acted on the Biden administration’s request for $4 billion to address the crisis at the border. Never mind that the shutdown threatens to further disrupt the already overburdened immigration system, adding to the years-long backlog in the courts.
He introduced two local sheriffs and cited stats, noting that more than 2,000 migrants a day are crossing that section of the border.
“It’s not just one part of the world, either,” he said. “It’s all parts of the world that are coming.”
“So there’s roughly 350 million people in the U.S. but there’s 8 billion people on earth,” Musk said. “This is an open border to 8 billion people.”
An aerial view of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, wearing a black Stetson hat, livestreaming while visiting the Texas-Mexico border on September 28, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas.
John Moore/Getty
Musk would have fit right in on Fox News, juxtaposing stats to stoke unreasoning fears. Gonzales added to it by noting that some of the migrants have gang tattoos. He said that one asylum seeker he saw at a facility in El Paso on Monday had tears tattooed on his face.
“A teardrop is when you kill someone,” Gonzales said.
“We really don’t know who some of these actors are. Many people you’ll see are fleeing poverty. I get that.”
“Sure, sure, sure,” Musk said.
Gonzales suggested others, like the tattooed migrant, are simply “fleeing you know, incarceration.”
We are basically, it seems like the place where you can go to get away from the law,” he continued.
Gonzales would have more aptly described America as a place where a former president and current Republican frontrunner for the 2024 election is under four criminal indictments.
Donald Trump had posted on his own social media platform that the last chance to hold off the prosecutors was for Congress to impeach President Biden—which is what his minions on the Hill were trying to accomplish despite a lack of evidence.
The minions were having more success answering Trump’s call to shut down the government—and in a particularly rich twist, they were also blocking the $4 billion Biden has requested for greater security on the very border where Gonzalez and Musk put on their cowboy-and-pony show.
