On Fox News Sunday, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) defended the bipartisan border deal that his MAGA colleagues want to tank in order to avoid giving Biden an election-year win.
Anchor Shannon Bream said, “a lot of Republicans are saying” that Biden has powers and laws he could use now, but isn’t, “So why give him this in an election year?”
Lankford defended the substance of the tougher border policy. Then he went after the performative politics of his MAGA colleagues. He noted that four months ago, Republicans “locked arms” and refused to fund Ukraine, Israel and the southern border without changes in border policy. Now that a new policy is ready to enact, “They’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding. I actually don’t want to change in law because of the presidential election year.’”
“We all have an oath to the Constitution,” Lankford added pointedly. “And we have a commitment to say we’re going to do whatever we can to be able to secure the border.”
Sadly, such commitment to the constitution is MAGA heresy. On Saturday, the Oklahoma GOP passed a resolution “condemning and censoring” Lankford’s “open border deal.”
In case you’re feeling all warm and fuzzy toward Lankford, consider this: Asked by Face the Nation anchor Margaret Brennan whether the $83 million damage award to Trump’s sexual assault victim gives Lankford “any pause about him returning to office,” Lankford replied, “It doesn’t.”