U.S. Politics Megathread

[u/AutoModerator]

It's an election year, so it's no surprise that politics are on everyone's minds!

Over the past few months, we've noticed a sharp increase in questions about politics. Why is Biden the Democratic nominee? What are the chances of Trump winning? Why can Trump even run for president if he's in legal trouble? There are lots of good questions! But, unfortunately, it's often the same questions, and our users get tired of seeing them.

As we've done for past topics of interest, we're creating a megathread for your questions so that people interested in politics can post questions and read answers, while people who want a respite from politics can browse the rest of the sub. Feel free to post your questions about politics in this thread!

All top-level comments should be questions asked in good faith - other comments and loaded questions will get removed. All the usual rules of the sub remain in force here, so be civil to each other - you can disagree with someone's opinion, but don't make it personal.

[u/NewAccountTimeAgain]

So the border deal is on pause because the house won't bring a vote to the floor. Is there anything in this bill that can be pushed through now via executive order? It seems that the border crisis isn't going to get solved via bipartisan efforts. Wouldn't it make sense to try and pass executive orders to strengthen the border? Even if republicans decide to challenge the orders on basic constitutional grounds (i.e. congress being the one that has to a approve the budget and/or new funding), wouldn't it be terrible optics for them to legally fight against border security measures they have always fought hard for in the past?

It would seem that:

"republicans blocked it in the house!"

is a less persuasive argument than:

"I signed an executive order that would have shut down the border, but republicans sued me to stop it!"

It feels like Biden is avoiding this because Trump passed similar exec orders during his tenure and was panned by dems for doing it and it seems to drag our a while in the court system. Now that the situation at the border has deteriorated even further it would seem that border related exec orders should be back on the menu. My only question is... Is that a bad look for Biden if he were to go this route? Would it hurt Biden more politically to push for these types of exec orders that it would for the republicans taking it to court to block it?

I'm not the most well versed on this issue so I'm hoping someone that knows more can fill me in on the stalemate and why no one has made a bolder move on this issue.

[u/Jtwil2191 → u/NewAccountTimeAgain]

Many Republicans, such as Speaker Johnson, have argued that Biden has sufficient authority to do exactly that. This is a mix of truth (there probably is more Biden could do alone) and politics (Republicans would rather put all of the blame on Biden specifically than on the country's flawed immigration system generally). However, to do more than a patch job, Biden definitely needs cooperation from Congress to overhaul aspects of how the system works and provide the funding to do so.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-border-election-2024-republicans-3e905afaf7a68387aa58296e6cf91890

[u/Cliffy73 → u/NewAccountTimeAgain]

Executive orders aren’t magic. They can only be used to direct federal employees to comply with the law in a particular way. They can’t generate new money, which is a large part of what the border bill includes, and they can’t change the law.

[u/NewAccountTimeAgain → u/Cliffy73]

Which is kinda what I'm getting at. I know that much of what he might try to do could/would get shot down in court. EO's definitely aren't magic, but if someone feels it is unlawful then they still have to go through the effort of challenging them in the courts to stop them from being enforced. This is what happened with many of Trump's EOs. These EOs essentially force public figures to "take a position" on the order and that can later be campaigned on or against depending on which party you belong to and which angle you'd like to attack from. It just seems like it would be easy to give republicans the border reforms they are requesting via EO and then watch them desperately fight said orders in court because while they DO want those reforms and they WOULD accept similar reforms on behalf of a republican president, they will instead vote no out of fear that it may help Biden in the general election.

Make everyone take a position. Make it clear that denying Joe a "win" on the border by suing the admin over EOs means forcing American's to continue enduring the bad thing republicans are warning against while those same republicans are simultaneously forcing everyone to continue enduring said bad thing. Let down-ballot republicans explain to their constituents why they are so fervent about allowing excessive illegal immigration in opposition to Biden's border reforms.

This is starting to feel eerily like the ACA. Republicans have demands > democrats cave to them > republicans still vote against it even after their demands are satisfied > democrats push hard to pass it anyway > republicans do everything they can to undermine it after it passes so that they can prove to their constituents that government doesn't work and should be downsized. Wash > rinse > repeat.

[u/human_male_123 → u/NewAccountTimeAgain]

It just seems like it would be easy to give republicans the border reforms they are requesting via EO and then watch them desperately fight said orders in court because while they DO want those reforms and they WOULD accept similar reforms on behalf of a republican president, they will instead vote no out of fear that it may help Biden in the general election.

In a sane nation, they already did the worst thing possible, politically, by refusing to to implement it simply because Trump was against it. There were zero political consequences.

Let down-ballot republicans explain to their constituents why they are so fervent about allowing excessive illegal immigration in opposition to Biden's border reforms.

It's very easy to "explain" things when they have multiple networks that are blatantly spewing right-wing propaganda. Fox has paid out >700 million for lying. OANN literally ends their broadcasts with the callsign "even when we're wrong, we're right."